Indigenous Victorians' health
Health is not just the physical wellbeing of an individual, but the social, emotional, and cultural wellbeing of the whole community, in which each individual is able to achieve their full potential as a human being, thereby bringing about the total wellbeing of their community.
National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation
Indigenous Victorians have poorer health across all age groups and across all measures, including life expectancy, cardiovascular disease, injuries and poisonings, chronic disease, respiratory diseases and hospitalisations.
Relative to the rest of the population, Indigenous children and young people have lower birth weight, higher infant mortality, lower immunisation rates, lower use of Maternal and Child Health services, higher incidence of hearing problems, and higher rates of mental illness. This poorer health status has significant flow-on impacts, including reduced educational outcomes and higher rates of unemployment.
This continuing disadvantage is a shameful indictment on the Victorian community. VCOSS believes the Victorian Government needs to address this disadvantage as an urgent priority with a significant and sustained investment focused on these four essential priorities:
- Adopt and resource partnerships between Aboriginal-controlled organisations and generalist (mainstream) organisations and governments.
- Build and expand the capacity of Aboriginal-controlled organisations to enable them to both meet the complex needs of their communities and to be able to resource their partnerships with generalist organisations.
- Resource mainstream organisations to provide culturally sensitive practice across their policy and service responses.
- Provide culturally appropriate pre- and post-natal support to Aboriginal women, using the shared care model developed in partnership by the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service and the Royal Women’s Hospital as a starting point.
For further information, visit the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO) website or read the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) Social Justice Report 2005. There is also extensive information available on the Australian Indigenous Health Infonet.
Click here for further information about VCOSS's other work for the rights of Indigenous Victorians.