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key indigenous australian issues
| home | news lLift the death sentence on indigenous livesBy Andrew Hewett
9 April 2007 - In the past week, intense media attention has focused on the challenge Australia faces to close the gap in life expectancy between Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders and other Australians. It's hard to believe, but impossible to deny, that indigenous Australians live nearly 20 years less than the rest of us. A gap of 20 years is plainly unacceptable. Nor should we accept that Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders end up in hospitals at twice the rate of other Australians. A gap of 20 years is plainly unacceptable. Nor should we accept that Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders end up in hospitals at twice the rate of other Australians. Nor is it fair that while most Australians can look forward to long healthy lives with access to some of the best health-care facilities in the world, indigenous Australians can expect to die from much higher rates of heart disease, cancer and kidney failure, to name a few diseases. It might shock you to learn that Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders go blind and lose limbs as a result of diabetes. The sad fact is that indigenous Australians have not shared in the health gains enjoyed by other Australians over the past 20 years. Indeed, a report published last week by the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation and Oxfam found that Australia is ranked bottom of a league table of first-world wealthy nations working to improve the health and wellbeing of first-nation people. t it is inconceivable that a country as wealthy as Australia cannot solve a health crisis affecting less than 3 per cent of its population. And that is why last week a coalition of Australia's leading indigenous health, human rights and development agencies, as well as high-profile Australians including Cathy Freeman and Ian Thorpe, launched the Close the Gap campaign to put an end to health discrimination. Together we invite you to join us to be a part of Australia's generation that pledged to close the gap between the life expectancy of indigenous and non-indigenous Australians within 25 years. The nay-sayers argue that there are no votes in Aboriginal issues. Or that Aboriginal Australians are unable to help themselves, or that governments at all levels have tried to fix the problem and that there are no new answers. But there are always answers. It is a question of government leadership at both federal and state levels across all parties. It is time Australia flexed its muscles and mustered the political will to redress the health inequalities between Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders and other Australians. Where there's a will there's a way. We believe our leaders have the strength and skills to take up the challenge. Australia-wide, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are taking action to improve the health of their people. In Townsville the Mums and Babies project has received nearly 40,000 patients since it opened in 2000, leading to improved birth weights among Aboriginal babies. In far north-west South Australia, a primary health-care service for the Anangu people has a national reputation for clinical services. It operates nine clinics and a 16-bed aged-care facility as well as other services such as dental and health-care programs. Opportunities are there. The Australian Medical Association estimates that an additional investment of $460 million a year would begin to meet the health needs. Australians spend $1.9 billion on confectionery each year. A fraction of that amount would help solve the indigenous health crisis. What could be more important than investing in the health and wellbeing of the next generation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children? Together, let's take up this challenge. Together, let's send a message to our nation's leaders that all Australians want the health of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders to be the nation's No. 1 priority. We want to see the 20-year gap in life expectancy closed within a generation. It is a challenge Australia can meet. It is time to close the gap. Andrew Hewett is executive director of Oxfam Australia. Source: The Age related links:
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its one year on from the Australian Governments controversial intervention into NT Indigenous communities
action Roll back, listen to Indigenous community voices speaking about the intervention |
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