| Week Six – Indigenous Health |
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Professor Mike Daube Professor of Health Policy at Indigenous Health Policy – Challenges, Successes, Failures and How to Make a Difference
Ms Kathryn Webster, Derbarl Yerrigan Health Service Indigenous Maternal and Child Health
Indigenous health outcomes continue to be poorer than those of non-Indigenous Australians. The average life expectancy for Indigenous males is 12 years below that of non-Indigenous males and for Indigenous females the average life expectancy is 10 years below that of non-Indigenous females. Indigenous people experience higher rates of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, mental illness, kidney disease and communicable diseases. Each year 83 Indigenous children die because they are Indigenous. Indigenous mothers comparatively do even worse. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are almost three times more likely to die whilst pregnant, during labor, or up to six weeks after giving birth than non-indigenous women. Whilst non-indigenous Australian women enjoy one of the lowest maternal mortality rates in the world with 7.9 deaths per 100 000 confinements, Indigenous women die at an alarming rate of 21.5 deaths per 100 000 confinements. This rate is higher than that in some developing countries such as In this week Professor Mike Daube, Professor of Health Policy at Ms Kathryn Webster from the Derbarl Yerrigan Health Service will discuss Indigenous maternal and child health and her work in this area. |