Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health services report 2009-10: OATSIH Services Reporting - key results
In 2009-10, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander: primary health care services provided 2.4 million episodes of health care to about 456,000 clients, a 14% increase in episodes of care, and a 22% increase in the number of clients reported compared with 2008-09. substance use services provided treatment and assistance to about 26,300 clients, an increase of 14% compared with 2008-09. Bringing Them Home and Link Up services provided counselling to about 10,700 clients, an increase of about 27% compared with 2008-09.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework 2010: detailed analyses
This report contains detailed analyses underlying the summary data presented in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework 2010. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework (HPF) is designed to provide the basis to monitor the impact of the National Strategic Framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health (NSFATSIH) and inform policy analyses, planning and program implementation. The HPF consists of 71 measures covering the tiers: health status and outcomes; determinants of health; and health systems performance.
Chronic kidney disease in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
This report presents the first detailed analysis of chronic kidney disease in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and how it compares to non-Indigenous Australians. Indigenous Australians have a greater burden of disease for many health conditions, and chronic kidney disease is no exception. Indigenous Australians were found to be more likely to have end-stage kidney disease, and be hospitalised or die with chronic kidney disease than non-Indigenous Australians.
Expenditure on health for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people 2008-09
In 2008-09, total health expenditure for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was estimated at $3,700 million. The average health expenditure per person for Indigenous Australians was $6,787, compared with $4,876 for each non-Indigenous Australian. Correspondingly, the Indigenous to non-Indigenous per person health expenditure ratio was 1.39. This report, the sixth in the series, again shows that Indigenous Australians are more likely than non-Indigenous Australians to rely on public hospital services. In 2008-09, per person expenditure on public hospital services for Indigenous Australians was more than double that for non-Indigenous Australians - an expenditure ratio of 2.25.
End-stage kidney disease in Australia: total incidence, 2003-2007
The incidence of end-stage kidney disease is an important indicator of the health of the Australian population and valuable for healthcare planning. In the past we have been limited to counting only individuals treated with dialysis or transplant. However it is recognised that many people with end-stage kidney disease might not receive these treatments for a variety of reasons.This report presents a new method for counting the total incidence of end-stage kidney disease which also includes those not treated with dialysis or transplant. This method indicates that for every new case treated with dialysis or transplant there is one that is not, although the vast majority of these are elderly.
Housing and homelessness services: access for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
The rate of homelessness for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is four times that of non-Indigenous Australians. Homeless Indigenous Australians were almost twice as likely to sleep rough, or in improvised dwellings and shelters, than non-Indigenous Australians. The rate of home ownership for Indigenous households was about a third compared to two-thirds for non-Indigenous households. Indigenous households were ten times more likely to be living in overcrowded conditions compared to non-Indigenous households.
Contribution of chronic disease to the gap in mortality between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other Australians
Chronic diseases are major contributors to the mortality gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and other Australians. About 80% of the mortality gap for people aged 35 to 74 years is due to chronic diseases, measured in terms of potential years of life lost. The major contributors are heart diseases, diabetes, liver diseases, chronic lower respiratory disease, cerebrovascular diseases and cancer.
Life expectancy and mortality of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
Indigenous Australians experience much higher death rates than the non-Indigenous Australians across all age groups and for all major causes of death. In 2004-2008, the age-standardised death rate for Indigenous males was 1.9 times the rate for non-Indigenous males while for Indigenous females it was 2 times the rate of non-Indigenous females. Indigenous life expectancy for 2005-07 was estimated to be 67.2 years for males, 11.5 years lower than for non-Indigenous males, and 72.9 years for females, which was 9.7 years lower than for non-Indigenous females.
Eye health in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
Over the age of 40 years, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have 6 times the rate of blindness of other Australians. 94% of vision loss in Indigenous Australians is preventable or treatable. The most common cause of blindness in Indigenous adults was cataract (32%).This paper summarises the findings of the 2008 National Indigenous Eye Health Survey (NIEHS). It reports the overall prevalence of blindness and vision impairment in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged 5 to 15 years and adults over the age of 40 years. The paper also presents some data from the National Trachoma Surveillance and Reporting Unit, Medicare, hospital data and case studies.
Comparing life expectancy of indigenous people in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States: conceptual, methodological and data issues
Numerous studies have indicated that the gap between indigenous and non indigenous people's life expectancy in Australia is greater than in New Zealand, Canada and the United States of America (USA). However, difficulties related to concepts, data and methods behind such estimates throw doubt on conclusions drawn from country comparison studies. This report suggests that the uncertainty associated with indigenous life expectancy estimates could be quite large. Consequently, it is difficult to draw conclusions regarding cross-country differences.
Access to health and services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (Indigenous Australians) typically die at much younger ages than other Australians and are more likely to experience disability and reduced quality of life because of ill health. One important contributor to health and wellbeing is access to health services. This paper examines Indigenous Australians' use of a range of health services, including those that provide preventive, primary and community health, hospital or specialised care.
A profile of homelessness for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had four times the rate of homelessness compared to other Australians (191 per 10,000 compared with 49 per 10,000 in the 2006 Census). Homeless Indigenous Australians were more likely to sleep rough, or in improvised dwellings and shelters, than non-Indigenous Australians (27% compared with 15%). Indigenous people are overrepresented as clients of specialist homelessness services - while 2.5% of Australians were Indigenous, and 9% of homeless Australians were Indigenous, about 17% of people assisted by specialist homelessness services in 2008-09 were Indigenous.
Older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
This report describes the age and geographic distribution of the older Indigenous population, its particular requirements in terms of aged care and support, and the pattern of usage of these services. At the 2006 Census, there were approximately 60,000 Indigenous Australians aged 50 years and over, accounting for about 12% of the total Indigenous population. By comparison, 31% of the non-Indigenous population fell into this age group. However, the number of older Indigenous people is growing and estimated at 76,300 in 2011. Older Indigenous people have poorer health and higher rates of disability than other Australians in the same age group.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disability: wellbeing, participation and support
This report explores the experience of Indigenous people with disability compared with Indigenous people without disability and all Australians with similar severity of disability. It addresses how they are faring in terms of five key areas reflecting aspects of participation in the context of prevalence rates. Indigenous people in Australia have rates of ill-health and disability substantially higher than other Australians. Census 2006 data suggest that Indigenous people are 2-3 times more likely to need assistance with the core activities of daily living (self-care, communication and mobility) than non-Indigenous people.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child safety
This paper provides an overview of key measures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child safety, presenting a range of information relating to child injury and violence; child protection; and juvenile justice. National data show that Indigenous children are over-represented across a range of measures: for example, Indigenous children were 5 times as likely as non-Indigenous children to experience a hospital separation for assault; 8 times as likely to be the subject of substantiated child abuse or neglect; and 15 times as likely to be under juvenile justice supervision.
The health and welfare of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: an overview 2011
The health and welfare of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: an overview 2011 is a summary publication of Indigenous health and welfare statistics prepared by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Together with a series of articles available online from the AIHW Indigenous observatory and the Australian Bureau of Statistics, it provides a comprehensive statistical picture of Indigenous health and welfare. Topics covered in the publication include: demographic characteristics; determinants of health and welfare; health and functioning; mortality and life expectancy; health across the life stages; health care and other support services; and health and welfare expenditure.
Dental health of Indigenous children in the Northern Territory: findings from the Closing the Gap Program
This report details the oral health of Indigenous children in the Northern Territory who have received dental services as part of the Closing the Gap Initiative.
Substance use among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
The report will focus on three main categories of substance that have major health implications for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: tobacco smoking, alcohol use and illicit substance use.
Educational outcomes of children on guardianship or custody orders: a pilot study, Stage 2
This report presents a snapshot of the academic performance of children on guardianship/custody orders from 2003 to 2006, and changes in their performance over this period. This concludes a two-stage pilot study, the first of its kind in Australia. A considerable proportion of children on guardianship/custody orders are not meeting the national benchmarks for reading and numeracy (ranging from 4% to 68% across states and years), and Indigenous children within this group are particularly disadvantaged.
State owned and managed Indigenous housing 2009-10
This publication presents results from the 2009-10 state owned and managed Indigenous housing data collection. More complete analysis of these results is available in the forthcoming AIHW publication Housing assistance in Australia 2011.
Injury of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people due to transport, 2003-04 to 2007-08
Land transport accidents accounted for 20% of fatal injury cases and 8% of all injury hospitalisations for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Based on age-standardised rates, there were 2.7 times more fatalities and 20% more serious injury among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people compared to other Australians.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Services Report, 2008-09: OATSIH Services Reporting - Key Results
The main findings from the 2008-09 OATSIH Services Reporting data collection show that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander:- primary health care services provided 2.1 million episodes of health care to around 375,000 clients- substance use specific services provided treatment and assistance to address substance use issues to about 23,200 clients- Bringing Them Home and Link Up counselling services provided counselling to about 8,400 clients.
Incidence of Type 1 diabetes in Australian children 2000-2008
Type 1 diabetes is a serious, life-long disease which causes a major health, social and economic burden for individuals with the disease, their families and the community. There were over 8,000 new cases of Type 1 diabetes diagnosed in Australian children between 2000 and 2008, an average of two new cases every day. But, while the rate of new cases increased significantly over the first part of the decade (2000-2004), there has been little change since 2005. Incidence of Type 1 diabetes in Australian children 2000-2008 presents the latest available national data on new cases of Type 1 diabetes for children from Australia's National Diabetes Register.
Indigenous community housing 2008-09
Indigenous community housing 2008-09 includes national data collected by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare on Indigenous community housing. Information is presented on a range of Indigenous housing indicators including overcrowding, dwelling condition, affordability, connection to services and recurrent and capital expenditure. There is also information on Indigenous community housing organisations such as whether they have a housing management plan and the proportion of employees undertaking training.
National best practice guidelines for collecting Indigenous status in health data sets
All clients of health services should be asked if they are of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin in the process of routine data collection. Despite improvements in recent years, there have been continuing problems in establishing and maintaining standard practice in the collection of Indigenous status, resulting in the under-identification of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in key national health data sets. These guidelines have been developed to ensure the standard Indigenous status question is asked correctly and consistently of all clients of health services, and that this information is correctly recorded.