An Australian perspective

World Federation of Public Health Associations

 The Health of Indigenous Children: an Australian perspective

Daniel McAullay

The high burden of poor health born by Aboriginal people in colonised countries is well reported. There continues to be a significant gap in the rates of death (mortality) and poor health (morbidity) between these people and their country’s wider population.

An Indigenous child born between 1996 and 2001 can on average expect to live approximately 17 years less than a non-Indigenous child born in this period (AIHW, 2008). Indigenous child mortality and disease contribute to this gap.

Poor access to the basic socio-economic and environmental conditions for good health, inadequate health services and infrastructure, a history of under-resourcing in Indigenous health and a lack of strong political commitment at a national level, have all contributed to a disturbing picture of health conditions and outcomes more commonly associated with the third world than with a wealthy nation such as ours.

This address is part of a workshop presenting the results of a systematic review of Indigenous children’s health status and assessment in,,, and the.  The review includes information describing what we know about the health of Indigenous children. 

This aim of this presentation is to outline the Australian component of this work. The focus will be on key mortality and morbidity data, limitations of this data and examples of programs that have been developed as a result to these data.

References:

AIHW. 2008.Australia’s Health 2008. AIHW cat. No. AUS 99, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare,