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Expert says Aboriginal infant mortality can be reduced with government help?

31 January 2005 - China Post (Taiwan) - The government must do more to combat infant mortality among Aborigines, whose babies die of unexplained causes at a rate six times higher than other Australian children, an expert on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) said Monday.

The statistic was the latest evidence that Aborigines, who make up 400,000 of Australia's 20 million population, have by far the worst health of any group in this wealthy nation.

SIDS, also known as crib death, is the sudden and unexplained death of a seemingly healthy baby in its first 12 months of life.

National SIDS Council of Australia chief executive Jan Carey said while Australia's SIDS rate had been reduced in recent years due to parent education, SIDS among Aborigines was six times higher than the national average.

The SIDS rate for Aborigines is 4.49 deaths per 1,000 live birth compared with the national average of 0.73.

In the decade since a national education campaign began in 1990, SIDS deaths in Australia were reduced by 57 percent.

A pilot education program now underway needs government funding to reach remote Outback Aboriginal communities, she said.

"We know how to reduce the rate of SIDS and it's time to get the message through to indigenous families," Carey said.

A recent report by Aboriginal health organizations found that for children aged 10 in remote Aboriginal communities, up to 40 percent would have developed chronic ear infections causing hearing loss, 15 percent would be malnourished and close to one third would have suffered from anemia.

About 20 percent would have been infected with the treatable eye disease trachoma and five percent would have been hospitalized for preventable pneumonia.

Source:China Post

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