WA: Indigenous Australians dying 20 years earlier: report
By Tim Clarke
PERTH, Aug 29 AAP - The life expectancy of Aboriginal and Islander Australians diean average 20 years earlier than the general population, a new study on indigenous healthreleased today shows.
The fourth report on the health and welfare of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres StraitIslander peoples reveals the life expectancy of an Aboriginal male is 56 years comparedto 77 years for all Australian men.
Life expectancy for indigenous women is 63 years, compared to a national average of 82 years.
The report, compiled by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and Australian Instituteof Health and Welfare (AIHW), was launched in Perth today by Australian of the Year FionaStanley.
Professor Stanley said that despite some positive signs, including employment rates,Aborigines still lagged behind the general Australian population in many indicators ofhealth and welfare.
"The report should form the basis of the policies to help improve the health and welfareof Aboriginals," Prof Stanley said.
"It is how these particular statistics might direct the policies, and provide the framework,to improve Aboriginal health that is important."
Despite the lower life expectancy rates, the report reveals expenditure on indigenoushealth during 1998-1999 was $3,065 a head - 22 per cent higher than the estimated servicesdelivered to non-indigenous people.
The new study showed indigenous babies were twice as likely to die around the timeof birth, while indigenous mothers were more likely to have babies younger.
The research also showed diabetes was responsible for a higher proportion of indigenousdeaths than for other Australians.
Nearly a third of indigenous hospital stays were for "care involving dialysis" - ninetimes the rate of other Australians.
Among the leading cause of death among Aboriginal people between 1999 and 2001 werephysical injury and poisoning, with physical violence featuring prominently in the 15-34years age group.
Despite the detail within the report, which runs to 296 pages, Professor Stanley, thefounding director of Perth's Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, said therewere still gaps in the statistics.
"There are some really important gaps, still, in this volume. For instance, don't theauthorities in NSW and Victoria care enough about Aboriginal people that they don't countthe death properly," the professor said.
"Perhaps they dont want to count the deaths properly."
AAP tc/sd/cjh/bwl
KEYWORD: ABORIGINAL HEALTH
No comments:
Post a Comment