A long standing issue in Australia is the social-health inequalities between indigenous and non-indigenous people. The gap between the two ethnic groups remains increasingly worrying, as the imbalance here in Australia is among of the worst health gaps between the indigenous and non-indigenous people in a any country. It has even gone as far to be raised as a human rights concern by the United Nations committee, which has since been acknowledged by Australian Government. The Australian Bureau of Statistics found there was seventeen year gap in life expectancy between non-indigenous and indigenous people living in Australia in 2011 census. This statistic alone should be enough to see the urgence in the matter of social health in our country. …show more content…
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been statistically shown to be at a higher risk of developing a substance abuse problem which includes the use of alcohol, tobacco and Illicit drugs. The 2014-2015 report from NATSISS found that over 39% of indigenous people over the age of fifteen had said that they were current daily smokers, which increases the risk of them developing chronic diseases, such as CVD, cancer, and lung diseases. This is due to low socio-economic standings that indigenous people have within our society, the employment rate being at only 48.2%. Mental health related issues are also very prevalent within Indigenous communities, and often substance abuse occurs as an outlet for people struggling with mental illness. A study done by Western Australian Aboriginal Child Health indicates the children taken from their parents during the stolen generation were twice as likely to developing some form of substance abuse …show more content…
The National Health and Medical Research Council guidelines recommend that adults eat fruit and vegetables every day. The guidelines also recommend to include reduced fat varieties of milk, yogurts and cheeses, and limit the intake of added sugar and salt and the consumption of discretionary foods. Factors for poor dietaries in indigenous communities often include socio-economic disadvantage, were the average household income for Indigenous peoples in Australia was $364 per week. Geographical and environmental, in that location plays a massive factor into what can be imported to a certain area. A recent study done by the Australian government found that Indigenous adults were 1.6 times more likely to be obese than non-Indigenous Australians. Reasons for the spiked numbers include lack of nutritional information, location and accessibility to healthy foods and also poor economic