The Indigenous health emergency is Australia's gravest national crisis. An Aboriginal child born in 2008 will still, on average, live for 17 years less than a non-Aboriginal child.

Closing the Indigenous life expectancy gap is everyone's business: it's a national issue in which every individual, organisation and group in Australia can play a role.

This is why we have adopted a multi-pronged approach to tackling the Indigenous health crisis. This approach acknowledges the complexity and interconnectedness of health issues.

1. Government level - Close the Gap campaign. To ensure that the Australian governments commit to targets and resources to close the life expectancy gap within a generation. ANTaR has been a key member of the Close the Gap coalition and dedicated significant time and effort towards this campaign.
2. Individual level – Racism makes me sick campaign. Of all the causes of ill health in Indigenous Australians, there is one that every Australian can do something about – racism. This ANTaR campaign urges all Australians to get the facts, speak up against racism and do something positive in support of Indigenous Australians.
3. Community level – Healing CIRCLE Foundation. ANTaR is collaborating with Prof. Judy Atkinson (Southern Cross University) and other groups on establishing a fund dedicated to addressing intergenerational trauma in Indigenous communities through community engagement, training and support.
4. Best practice – Success Stories in Indigenous Health. There are many successful programs and initiatives already in place across communities and health services. ANTaR works to promote these successes (so that they could inform other programs and services) and to highlight the active role that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people play in identifying and implementing solutions.
5. Key impact areas – other ANTaR campaigns. ANTaR works on many other issues that impact directly on Indigenous health, such as education, native title, reparations for the Stolen Generations and others. This means that ANTaR campaigning has a holistic approach that takes into account the social determinants of Indigenous health.

Campaigns and actions

The issue of Indigenous health rights is one of ANTaR's top priorities, and as such, we are involved with several campaigns in this area:

• Success stories in Indigenous health - showing that Indigenous-led health care initiatives often get the best results
• Racism Makes Me Sick - showing how racism effects the health of Indigenous people
• Healing Hands - ANTaR's pre-Close The Gap campaign on Indigenous health rights
• Close The Gap - ANTaR is a founding member of this coalition

ANTaR has played a critical role in the Close the Gap campaign from its inception. ANTaR's efforts were quick to see the opportunity presented by the findings of the Social Justice Report 2005 and were critical in garnering public support and awareness for the campaign.
The involvement of Ian Thorpe, Jeff McMullen and Catherine Freeman was the result of the efforts of ANTAR National Director Gary Highland and research such as the 'success stories' report and 'racism makes me sick' have kept the campaign and its message of change in the public eye.
- Tom Calma, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner

Recent key reports

Report: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework - 2008

The Report finds that there have been improvements in some aspects of health for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, while some areas are unchanged and some are worsening.

• Areas of improvement include: overall mortality and infant mortality, deaths caused by circulatory disease, expansion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander primary health care, antenatal care, immunisation, education and unemployment.
• Areas of concern include: deaths caused by chronic diseases, injury, end stage kidney disease, social and emotional well-being, low birth weight, chronic ear disease, oral health, sexually transmissible infections, social determinants of health, smoking including smoking during pregnancy, alcohol, physical activity, nutrition, obesity, relative per capita health expenditure, early detection and early treatment, access to prescription medicine, numbers of Indigenous Australians in the health workforce and access to health services.

Report: The Economic Impact of Indigenous Disadvantage

An overview of the economic impact of Indigenous disadvantage (PDF 902k), September 2008.

Report: Commonwealth Indigenous Specific Expenditure 1968-2008

This paper (PDF 479k) attempts to identify Commonwealth expenditure in the area of Indigenous affairs over the 40 years from 1968 to 2008 and to plot that expenditure by agency. The paper analyses trends in both the nominal and real expenditure, in the expenditure as a percentage of total Commonwealth outlays and Gross Domestic Product, and in the per-capita expenditure. In nominal and real terms Commonwealth Indigenous-specific expenditure has trended up, but as a percentage of total outlays or Gross Domestic Product it has plateaued in more recent years. The per capita trend is found to be too problematic to characterise simply. September 2008.

Report: Close The Gap: National Indigenous Health Equality Targets

Outcomes from the National Indigenous Health Equality Summit, Canberra, March 18-20, 2008.

Report: Delivering improvements in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child and maternal health

This report was developed with the Rio Tinto child health partnership. The work of the Partnership across the three jurisdictions was focused on three projects: (1) National Policy and Planning Information for Indigenous Child Health, Education and Wellbeing - National Modelling of the Western Australian Aboriginal Child Health Survey; (2) National Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Prevention Strategy - Reducing Alcohol and Tobacco Consumption in Pregnancy; and (3) National Indigenous Community Health Workforce Development Strategy. March 2008.

Australian Medical Association (AMA) report card series

The AMA publishes a series on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health reports:
2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003

Report: The health and welfare of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

The health and welfare of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples provides a comprehensive overview of the health and welfare of Australia's Indigenous population, presenting the latest information on population demographics, housing circumstances, disability and carers, health status, and the provision, access and use of health and community services. Some of the links between education and health and between selected risk factors and health are also explored. 2008.

Report: An Overview of Current Knowledge of the Social Determinants of Indigenous Health

An Overview of Current Knowledge of the Social Determinants of Indigenous Health (PDF 1.18mb) by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, with Chapter 9 focussing specifically on Australia and New Zealand. 2007.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey

National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey, 2004-05.

Health and crime in black Australia

Health and crime in black Australia is a paper delivered to the Aboriginal Health Conference in 1982.

All things considered — a range of opinions

To give you a complete picture about Indigenous health rights, here's a range of perspectives. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of ANTaR, but we think they should be considered and thoughtfully debated.

• Health equality for Indigenous Australians a step closer: Close the Gap Coalition welcomes COAG funding - Close The Gap coalition, 30 November 2008
• The Greatest Injustice: why we have failed to improve the health of Aboriginal people - 2008 Annual Hawke Lecture, delivered by Professor Fiona Stanley AC, 6 November 2008
• Aboriginal malnourishment a national disgrace - Robert Tickner (Australian Red Cross), 30 October 2008
• Drive for more Indigenous doctors - The Australian, 4 October 2008
• Increasing Indigenous life expectancy 'good for economy' - ABC, 30 September 2008
• A conversation with Professor Wendy Hoy - an interview by the Australian Government National Health and Medical Research Council, 26 June 2008
• Aboriginal health 'litany of shame' - The Canberra Times, 25 June 2008
• Here comes the cavalry - Jack Waterford (The Canberra Times), 25 June 2008
• $10 Billion Health Fund must be used to close Indigenous health gap - ANTaR media release, 14 May 2008
• Closing the Gaps in Indigenous Mortality - Australian National University podcast, April 2008
• New partnership paves way for health equality between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians - Close The Gap coalition media release, 20 March 2008
• Closing the Gap - Building an Indigenous Future - Jenny Macklin MP Transcript, 26 February 2008
• Aborigines need more than platitudes - Professor Ian Anderson, 9 November 2007
• Government urged to match Rudd on Indigenous health - ANTaR media release, 26 May 2007
• Federal Budget does little to close life expectancy gap - Joint ANTaR & GetUp media release, 8 May 2007
• Aboriginal 'land carers' are healthier - The Age, 8 May 2007
• Indigenous health provision a step behind the rest - The Canberra Times, 30 April 2007
• Addressing Indigenous health inequality within a generation - HREOC Transcript, 4 April 2007
• Catherine Freeman and Ian Thorpe urge Australia to close the gap on Indigenous health - ANTaR media release, 4 April 2007
• Closing the Indigenous life expectancy gap within a generation - ANTaR Transcript, 28 February 2007
• These are the killing times - ANTaR Transcript, 6 September 2006

More news is on the Close The Gap website.

What should Australia do to close the Indigenous life expectancy gap?

We encourage considered, respectful and where necessary provocative debate. Please feel welcome to have your say, and in turn allow others to have their say without responding in anger or distrust.

ANTaR reserves the right to delete any comment that contains offensive, defamatory or discriminatory content. If you feel any of these comments are of this nature, please let us know.