A new report released today by the Australian Institute of
Health and Welfare (AIHW) examines the current state of data
collections relating to substance use issues for Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia.
The report, Drug use among Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander peoples: an assessment of data sources, highlights
the fact that Australia already has a relatively large number of
data sources and suggests ways to use them to provide a better
understanding of substance use issues.
'There are many complexities in collecting reliable information
about substance use in general and illicit substances in
particular, and these complexities are amplified when collecting
information about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples,
especially those living in small communities,' said report author,
Louise York.
Overall, available data sources on this subject are inadequate,
in that they fail to provide answers to many of the key questions
expressed by stakeholders, such as, what is the level of illicit
substance use among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
living in rural and remote Australia, or how many Indigenous people
are currently receiving alcohol or other drug treatment?
Some suggested ways to improve current data collections are
to:
- Continue to improve accurate identification of Indigenous
status across all data sources.
- Develop a core set of questions about substance use and related
contextual factors that can be used in various data
collections.
- Improve estimates of substance use among Indigenous people,
particularly in relation to illicit substance use in rural and
remote locations.
- Improve information about the number of Indigenous people
accessing alcohol and other treatment services, the types of
treatment they receive and its outcomes.
'Also key to better utilisation of existing data sources would
be to develop an appropriate methodology for gathering information
about emerging issues relevant to Indigenous substance use such as
petrol sniffing,' Ms York said.
'An examination of emerging issues would ideally produce
community-level information that could identify local supply and
demand issues. It would also be useful to highlight the
characteristics of strong communities versus communities at risk,'
she said.
25 October 2006
Further information: Ms Louise York, AIHW, tel.
02 6244 1271, or mob. 0407 915 851.
For media copies of the report: Publications
Officer, AIHW, tel. 61 2 6244 1032.
Availability: Check the AIHW Publications
Catalogue for availability of Drug use among Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander peoples: an assessment of data
sources.