In Remote and very remote areas combined, circulatory diseases contributed the biggest gap in mortality rates between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians (gap of 187 per 100,000). In non-remote areas cancer and other neoplasms were the biggest contributors to the gap (gap of 45 per 100,000) (Table D1. 23.30).
The largest rate ratios are seen for deaths from Diabetes (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rate 5.2 times higher than the Non-Indigenous population), Cirrhosis and other diseases of the liver (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rate 3.7 times higher than the Non-Indigenous population), and Chronic lower ...
Life expectancy by remoteness
The equivalent comparison for Indigenous females was 6.9 years lower (69.6 years compared with 76.5 years). While life expectancy for Indigenous males and females decreases with remoteness, life expectancy for non-Indigenous males and females is similar across all remoteness categories.
Compared to figures ten years earlier this is an improvement. Back then, males lived on average 67 years (11 years less) and females 73 years (10 years less). Aboriginal life expectancy is so low because Aboriginal health standards in Australia let 45% of Aboriginal men and 34% of women die before the age of 45.
Most Aboriginal deaths in custody are due to inadequate medical care, lack of attention and self-harm. The Guardian database shows indigenous people are three times less likely to receive medical care than others.
Indigenous people are overrepresented in Canadian criminal courts and far more likely than white people to be convicted and locked up once they come before a judge, according to a recent federal government study.
Some studies suggest that one of the factors contributing to the high number of custodial sentences is that Indigenous people are denied bail more frequently, resulting in longer periods of pre-trial detention or remand than non-Indigenous accused.
Colonisation has led to negative outcomes on the physical and mental health of many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Before 1788, Aboriginal peoples lived a semi-nomadic life in family and community groups. The impact of colonisation includes: disconnection from culture, family, and Country.
The prevalence of major behavioural and biomedical health risk factors is generally higher for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians than for other Australians. Behavioural risks include smoking, poor nutrition, physical inactivity and excessive alcohol consumption.
Poorer health among Indigenous women is tied to greater health disparities driven by economic and social inequities associated with colonialism, racism and sexism, such as greater vulnerability to victimization and poverty, intergenerational impacts of trauma from colonial policies, and barriers to accessing quality ...
Indigenous populations – who suffer from a lack of health-care facilities and insufficient access to basic services, sanitation facilities and key preventive measures, including safe drinking water, soap and disinfectants – are the hardest hit by socio-economic marginalization that puts them at a disproportionate risk ...
Indigenous peoples experience a high degree of socio-economic marginalization and are at disproportionate risk in public health emergencies, becoming even more vulnerable during this global pandemic, owing to factors such as their lack of access to effective monitoring and early-warning systems, and adequate health and ...
mental & substance use disorders (such as anxiety, depression, and drug use) injuries (such as falls, road traffic injuries, and suicide) cardiovascular diseases (such as coronary heart disease and rheumatic heart disease)
After European settlers arrived in 1788, thousand of aborigines died from diseases; colonists systematically killed many others. At first contact, there were over 250,000 aborigines in Australia. The massacres ended in the 1920 leaving no more than 60,000.
Coronary heart disease was the leading individual disease contributing to burden in Indigenous Australians in 2018.
Many traditional aboriginal cultures consider death to be very natural. For many aboriginal people, a “good death” is one where they meet death with dignity and composure. Dying this way implies a further experience of an afterlife.
Among others, indigenous peoples are much more vulnerable to disease, both for communicable and non-communicable ones, including tuberculosis, malaria and leprosy; infant and maternal mortality rates among indigenous peoples are higher than the national averages; and the lack of proper birth registration is limiting ...
If you are an Indigenous Australian, you can expect to have a shorter life expectancy, lower levels of health, education and employment and higher infant mortality rates than non-Indigenous Australians.
This paper looks at the reasons behind this rise in New South Wales. The evidence suggests that most of the increase is due to increased severity by the criminal justice system in its treatment of Indigenous offenders. One quarter of the increase has come from remandees and three quarters from sentenced prisoners.
Lack of respect and resources cause critical education gap.
Too often, education systems do not respect indigenous peoples' diverse cultures. There are too few teachers who speak their languages and their schools often lack basic materials.
Children today still face the aftermath from colonization and attempts to assimilate Indigenous peoples, this developing into intergenerational trauma (Blackstock, 2009). This contributed to the elevated numbers of Indigenous children in foster care, which can lead to them being disconnected to their culture.
Higher rates of homelessness among the Indigenous population are well documented and are associated with systemic barriers to employment and education, racial discrimination in the housing market, and the intergenerational effects of colonization and residential school experiences.
Important determinants of Indigenous health inequality in Australia include the lack of equal access to primary health care and the lower standard of health infrastructure in Indigenous communities (healthy housing, food, sanitation etc) compared to other Australians.
Cut off from resources and traditions vital to their welfare and survival, many Indigenous Peoples face even greater marginalization, poverty, disease and violence – and sometimes, extinction as a people.