The Lucky Country but only for some
Apr. 2nd, 2007 06:51 pmReports like this one on indigenous Australians' health continue to depress me.
From the article:
"But in Australia, Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders are still dying nearly 20-years younger than non-Aboriginal Australians.
... Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander infant mortality rates were more than 50 per cent higher than for indigenous children in the USA and New Zealand.
Low birth weights were also more than double the incidence of those of indigenous populations in Canada and the US, as well as 60 per cent higher than in New Zealand's indigenous population."
Please don't read the comments below the article - they are sadly representative of a viewpoint that is far too common here, these days.
I lived in 3rd world countries for 18 years and the poverty and squalor that I saw in the North West of Western Australia would rival that of the worst slums and ghettoes anywhere.
From the article:
"But in Australia, Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders are still dying nearly 20-years younger than non-Aboriginal Australians.
... Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander infant mortality rates were more than 50 per cent higher than for indigenous children in the USA and New Zealand.
Low birth weights were also more than double the incidence of those of indigenous populations in Canada and the US, as well as 60 per cent higher than in New Zealand's indigenous population."
Please don't read the comments below the article - they are sadly representative of a viewpoint that is far too common here, these days.
I lived in 3rd world countries for 18 years and the poverty and squalor that I saw in the North West of Western Australia would rival that of the worst slums and ghettoes anywhere.