Aboriginal health

To us, health is about so much more than simply not being sick. It's about getting a balance between physical, mental, emotional, cultural and spiritual health. Health and healing are interwoven, which means that one can't be separated from the other.—Dr Tamara Mackean, Australian Indigenous Doctors' Association [13]

Aboriginal health statistics

Australia is the only place on the planet where Indigenous health and wellbeing are going backwards.—Sydney Morning Herald [18]

Success story of an Aboriginal-controlled health service

Aboriginal health is an area full of failed attempts to better the situation, but there are also a few positive stories.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Health Service operating in Brisbane is the second Aboriginal community-controlled health service in Australia [4], operating since the 1970s.

The service is proud of their success [4]:

• Patient visits to their doctors doubled from around 9,000 in 2009 to more than 18,000 in 2011.
• In 2011 they did more than 5 times as many health checks as in 2008-09.
• More than 2,000 new patients came to the health service in 2011.
• Dentist visits were up 50% in the same period.
• The service opened 2 new clinics in Logan and Caboolture.
• The clinics created 28 new health jobs for Aboriginal people.

Hepatitis

Aboriginal people make up 2.5% of Australia's population yet they are 8% of the hepatitis C population [5], a figure which could be far higher considering that many people have not been tested and could have the virus.

Less than 2% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people access treatment, and if they suffer from other diseases the barrier to seek treatment is even higher. Few of them know that hepatitis B and C could be managed and hepatitis C can be cured.

Fact Hepatitis B was first diagnosed in an Aboriginal person in 1964 [5].

For more information visit www.hep.org.au or call the Hepatitis Helpline on 02-9332 1599 (Sydney), 1800 803 990 (NSW) or 1800 648 491 (QLD).

Cardiovascular disease

Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) is among the leading causes of death for Aboriginal people.

Almost 12% of Aboriginal people have a long-term heart or related condition, and the number of deaths from CVD is more than 3 times that of non-Aboriginal Australians [21]. The disease contributes to about one third of the life-expectancy gap.

The higher prevalence is attributed to a range of risk factors such as smoking and poor nutrition, but also socio-social factors such as social isolation and depression.

Dental health

Rates of dental decay in remote Aboriginal communities are often worse than 70% [10].

Such poor health is caused by a lack of fluoride in water supplies and poor diet, according to Prof Kaye Roberts-Thompson, a spokesperson for the Australian Institute of Heath and Welfare.

Many communities also have limited access to dental services.

Of children aged 12, nearly half had a history of dental decay in the permanent teeth [10]. The average number of decayed, missing and filled teeth was 1.1.

Mental health

Aboriginal people living in remote communities are 10 times more likely to develop dementia than people living in countries such as Africa, India and Indonesia; and five times more likely than non-Indigenous people [14,15]. In the Kimberley region 27% of elderly Aboriginal people have dementia.

Smoking, stroke, head injury and no formal education are the main contributors to the high rate, with the good news that most of these factors can be changed.

Another factor is less obvious. The colonisation of Australia has caused much trauma among Aboriginal people. Because they couldn't cope with what was happening many developed mental illnesses [19].

The dispossession, loss of identity, loss of land, this has all led to a whole lot of lost people. —Liz Hayden, Aboriginal Health Unit, Graylands Hospital, WA [19]

Discriminatory behaviour also contributes to bad mental health, eroding Aboriginal people's self-esteem and value within their community [22].

Health professionals found that just treating the psychiatric illness is not enough [19], but a holistic approach is required that takes in the historical perspective. Many Aboriginal children who were stolen from their families and grew up on missions came back as "fragmented people" [19] with mental health problems.

More resources

The HealthInfoNet website is an award-winning resource translating knowledge and academic literature for Aboriginal health workers in Australia.

The site was started in 1997. Visit www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au for more information.

Out of respect for Aboriginal culture I use Indigenous sources as much as possible.
www.hollows.org [1] Koori Mail 394 p.11 [2] Koori Mail, 413, p.6 [3] 'Diabetes crisis is forum target', Koori Mail 473 p.14 [4] 'Service makes a difference', Koori Mail 510 p.23 [5] 'Hepatitis danger in the spotlight', Koori Mail 507 p.51 [6] 'Grim findings in drug survey', Koori Mail 507 p.30 [7] 'More utilising disability help', Koori Mail 493 p.53 [8] 'Study looks at cancer death rates', Koori Mail 474 p.32 [9] 'Small smoking fall but grog 'a worry'', Koori Mail 494 p.22 [10] 'Tooth decay fears raised', Koori Mail 507 p.4 [11] 'Art with heart heads to Townsville', Koori Mail 487 p.46 [12] 'NT study confirms problems', Koori Mail 497 p.51 [13] 'A column by our own doctors', Koori Mail 438 p.54 [14] 'Dementia danger', Koori Mail 412 p.49 [15] 'Dementia dangers', Koori Mail 487 p.9 [16] 'Ironing out anaemia', Koori Mail 484 p.57 [17] 'Sexual health plan is a first', Koori Mail 479 p.66 [18] 'A shamed nation turns a blind eye', SMH 16/11/2009 [19] 'Action urged on mental health', Koori Mail 511 p.42 [20] 'Gains, but the gap is still wide, study finds', Koori Mail 463 p.9 [21] 'Conference gets to heart of solutions', Koori Mail 504 p.47 [22] 'What's in a name?', Koori Mail 515 p.36