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

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PROGRESS IN ADDRESSING INDIGENOUS DISADVANTAGE – HEALTH STATUS

LIFE EXPECTANCY

• 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.

MEDIAN DEATH AGE

• 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.

INFANT HEALTH

• 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.