Overview of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health status 2016

Authors/Creators

• Anomie, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Michael Adams, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Trish Amaranti, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Jane Burns, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Samantha Burrow, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Neil Drew, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Michelle Elwell, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Jesse John Fleay, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Caitlin Gray, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Millie Harford-Mills, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Joanne Hoareau, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Renee Lynch, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Andrea Macrae, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Juliette Mundy, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Christine Potter, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Miranda Poynton, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Kathy Ride, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Avinna Trzesinski, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Library Services
• Graham Barker, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Lawrence Rutherford, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow

Abstract

This report provides a comprehensive overview of the most recent indicators of the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Information focuses on:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations
• the context of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health
• various measures of population health status
• selected health conditions
• health risk and protective factors.

The Overview shows that the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continues to improve slowly and there has been a decline in the death rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and also a significant closing of the gap in death rates between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous people. The infant mortality rate has declined significantly. There have also been improvements in a number of areas contributing to health status such as the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers who smoked during pregnancy has decreased. There has been a slight decrease in the proportion of low birth weight babies born to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers between 2004 and 2014. Age-standardised death rates for respiratory disease in NSW, Qld, WA, SA and NT declined by 26% over the period 1998-2012 for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Two new sections are featured in this edition of the Overview. With the 20th anniversary of the Bringing them home report, a section has been dedicated to Healing which highlights the contribution of healing workers and organisations to supporting people, families and communities impacted by the Stolen Generations. Environmental health with its important link to the social determinants of health is also included for the first time in the Overview 2016.

Keywords

Australian Indigenous health, equitable access to healthcare, population health overview, literature review, closing the gap

Document Type

Report

Date of Publication

2017

Publisher

Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet

School

Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Australia License.

Comments

Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet (2017). Overview of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health status 2016.

https://healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/key-resources/publications/32785/?title=Overview+of+Australian+Aboriginal+and+Torres+Strait+Islander+health+status+2016&contentid=32785_1