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Defined Terms and Documents
'Aboriginal Teenager Life Skills' RTV Social Inclusion Early Intervention Programme
Indigenous Australians, in particular full blood
Aborigines, are unable to maintain a 'fatty' Western diet and consume the
quantum of alcohol and sugar/caffeine drinks that many Caucasians are consuming
Indigenous Australians'
"vital organs", in
particular their liver, pancreas and kidneys, have not "processed" such a rich and diverse diet for
the thousands of years that Darwin's 'natural selection' identified
as required for
Indigenous Australians with more adjusted
"vital organs" to dominate the population.
During this
"adjustment period"
too many
Indigenous Australians
vital organs will
collapse/shut down which account for the material gap in life expectancy and
QOL
The death of the lead-singer,
Mandawuy Yunupingu,
of Yothu Yindi due to kidney failure at 56
was an unfortunate reminder of the high incidence of organ failure amongst
Indigenous Australians, in
particular full blood Aborigines.
The
Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet‘s
mission is to contribute to improving the health of Australia’s Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander people and assist in ‘closing the gap’ by facilitating
the sharing and exchange of relevant, high-quality knowledge.
Below are extracts from the
Australian Indigenous Health
InfoNet‘s
website:
OVERALL HEALTH
Indigenous people in Australia are not as healthy as non-Indigenous people but
there have been a number of improvements, including:
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reductions in death rates
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a decrease in infant mortality rates
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a decrease in deaths from some diseases, like respiratory conditions, stroke
and kidney problems
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a decrease in some diseases, like trachoma and
tuberculosis
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reductions in some communicable diseases (largely because more Indigenous
people are getting vaccinated)
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a decrease in smoking ,
and a decrease the number of cigarettes smoked per day by Indigenous people .
ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION
Indigenous people are much more likely to not drink alcohol (abstain) than
non-Indigenous people. The 2008 NATSISS found that more than one-third of
Indigenous adults did not drink alcohol (compared with around one-in-eight of
non-Indigenous adults) [92][93].
However, Indigenous people who drink alcohol are more likely to drink it at
high-risk levels than non-Indigenous people. The 2008 NATSISS found that
one-in-six Indigenous adults were drinking at high-risk levels for a long time
(‘chronic’ risky/high-risk drinking), and one-third of Indigenous adults had
reported drinking at high-risk levels over a short time (binge drinking) in the
two weeks before they were interviewed .
In 2006-2010, alcohol was responsible for almost 400 deaths of Indigenous people [13].
Most of these deaths were from alcoholic liver disease.
DIABETES
Diabetes is a condition where the body cannot properly process glucose (a type
of sugar) [21].
Normally the body can convert glucose into energy with the help of a hormone
called insulin. If someone has diabetes, their body’s production of insulin is
impaired. Without enough insulin the body cannot turn glucose into energy, and
it stays in the blood. The treatment of diabetes depends on the type of diabetes
that a person has – if someone has type 1 diabetes they will need insulin
injections; if someone has type 2 diabetes they may be able to manage it by
living a healthy lifestyle or taking some medicines. It is possible for a person
to have type 2 diabetes without knowing it.
Diabetes is a major health problem for Indigenous people, but it is hard to know
just how many Indigenous people have the disease. Diabetes was reported by 6% of
Indigenous people in the 2004-2005 NATSIHS .
However, it is believed that only around one-half of Indigenous people with
diabetes actually know they have it, so it has been estimated that between 10%
and 30% of Indigenous people may have the condition .
According to the 2004-2005 NATSIHS, diabetes was more common for Indigenous
people living in remote areas (9%) than for those living in non-remote areas
(5%) .
Diabetes affects Indigenous people at a younger age than non-Indigenous people –
it affects high numbers of Indigenous people over the age of 25 years, which is
earlier than for non-Indigenous people (Figure 3). Overall, diabetes is more
than three times more common among Indigenous people than among other
Australians.
Deaths from diabetes were seven times more common for Indigenous people than for
non-Indigenous people in 2006-2010
.
LIFESTYLE PROTECTIVE FACTORS
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Nutrition
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Physical activity
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Weight control
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Immunisation
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