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Aboriginal health '100 years behind' other Australians

By Barbara McMahon

Tom Calma Social Justice Commissioner speaking at the Close the Gap launch Sydney 2007

2 May 2007 - The standard of health of Aborigines lags almost 100 years behind that of other Australians, with some indigenous people still suffering from leprosy, rheumatic heart disease and tuberculosis, according to a report for the World Health Organisation.

The report said that Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, which make up about 2.5% of Australia's population, have an average life expectancy 17 years below their fellow countrymen. The average age of death for Aboriginal men in some parts of New South Wales is 33.

"On many levels, indigenous health remains unacceptably low and at levels experienced nearly a century ago by our non-indigenous peers," said Dr Lisa Jackson Pulver, from the University of News South Wales indigenous health unit.

The findings are similar to a survey released last month by Oxfam and the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation. It reported that Australia ranks last for health in a table of wealthy countries with indigenous populations.

Commenting on the latest report, Australia's minister for health, Tony Abbott, acknowledged the gap between the life expectancy of Aborigines and other Australians and said his government had done more than its predecessors to try to find a solution. He said the situation was "something which no one can be happy about but if it were easy to tackle it would have been tackled a long time ago".

He dismissed a suggestion in the report that the government should publicly acknowledge the "stress, alienation, discrimination and lack of control" suffered by Aborigines which contributed to poor indigenous health.

"It's all very well to talk about formal apologies but I think indigenous people and the general population are much more interested in seeing better practical outcomes than in gestures, however meaningful those gestures might be to some," said Mr Abbott.

The opposition Labour party's spokeswoman on indigenous affairs Jenny Macklin said: "We need a bipartisan commitment to real goals to improve the health and life expectancy of indigenous people. That also means creating jobs, decent education and safe housing."

In another report released today, Mayor Fran Kilgariff of Alice Springs reported that mouthwash containing alcohol was being used as a drink by some of the community's indigenous population. Indigenous communities in the area have a long history of alcohol abuse, petrol sniffing and other substance abuse, despite concerted campaigns to eradicate the problem. She called for research to gauge the extent of the latest craze.

Source: The Guardian

related links:

• National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO)
• Oxfam Australia: Close the Gap Campaign
• Human Rights and Equal Oppurtunity Commission
• Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR)

Further information: health issues page - includes news index and external links