Social Justice Report 2003: PROGRESS IN ADDRESSING INDIGENOUS DISADVANTAGE – HEALTH STATUS

PROGRESS IN ADDRESSING INDIGENOUS DISADVANTAGE – HEALTH STATUS

Life expectancy for Indigenous females declined slightly
from 1997 - 2001 to 62.8 years. This rate is lower than the life expectancy
rate for females in India and sub-Saharan Africa (with the impact of
HIV-AIDs factored out).The gap with non-Indigenous female life expectancy
increased from 18.8 to 19.6 years in the same period.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander females can also
expect to live between 10.9 and 12.6 years less than Indigenous females
in Canada, the United States of America and New Zealand.
Life expectancy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
males increased slightly from 1997-2001 to 56.3 years. This rate is
lower than the life expectancy rate for males in Myanmar (Burma), Papua
New Guinea and Cambodia. The gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous
male life expectancy increased slightly from 20.6 to 20.7 years in the
same period.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males can also
expect to live between 8.8 and 13.5 years less than Indigenous males
in Canada, the USA and New Zealand.

In 2001, the median age of death was 24 years lower for Indigenous
Australians than for non-Indigenous Australians. There has been no identifiable
trend towards a reduction in this gap for either Indigenous males or
females over the past decade.

There are twice as many low birth-weight babies born
to Indigenous mothers than to non-Indigenous mothers. The rate of low
birth-weights has increased for both groups in recent years, with a
slight increase in the disparity between the two groups over the decade.
There are higher rates of low birth-weight babies among
Indigenous Australians than there are for mothers in countries that
are classified as low development countries by the United Nations, such
as Ethiopia, Senegal, Zimbabwe, Lebanon and Indonesia.
There are 2.5 times as many deaths among Indigenous infants
than non-Indigenous infants in Australia, with no discernable reduction
in the number of deaths or the rate of inequality since 1995.
Rates of infant mortality for Indigenous people
in Australia are significantly higher than rates for Indigenous people
in Canada, the USA and New Zealand.