health

Teenager Jordan Chapman can name half a dozen young people in his circle of friends who have taken their own lives. "On Facebook one night she (a friend) just inboxed me, seeing how was I going but I didn't have enough time to reply and I just logged out because I was going to sleep," he said. "I found out the next morning she committed suicide." Asked how someone of his age deals with that kind of loss, 17-year-old Jordan responded quietly: "I don't know. Just play football, go to school, keep my mind off it, don't really think about it."

A young First Nations woman was subject to such brutality in a domestic violence situation, she was inflicted with injuries were so severe, she was left profoundly Deaf and legally blind.

Nevertheless, her life has turned around and Rosie is now an author, and in her spare time she promotes awareness of issues relating to domestic violence as well as the extreme racism towards First Nations people by the Australian government.
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Going without food, or going without nutritious food, has heavy consequences for Indigenous people, as we learnt on a recent research trip to the West Kimberley. Indigenous Australians are already twice as likely to have a disability or chronic illness as non-Indigenous Australians; poor nutrition compounds these problems, leading to further illness and secondary impairments.Aboriginal people consistently reported alleviating food insecurity by going crabbing or fishing on traditional lands. Though this accounted for a small portion of total dietary intake.

The Aboriginal Health Council of Western Australia has described being hit by a double whammy after finding out about a 50 per cent state budget cut to Indigenous programs. It's all to do with ratings and unless the services are rated as 'very good' they lose their funding. Dr Hames said the Health Department believed a lot of programs listed as good still provided a quality service, and funding would be found somewhere.

This story paints is a damning picture with some people believed to be calling for the age of when young people leave foster, kinship/family and residential care to be raised from 18 to 21. However, this must be thought through very carefully, with input from all parties, including the wider First Nations communities. We don't want yet another patch-up job decided by bureaucrats and governments who always look for a quick fix to try and hide the gaping faults already built into their system.

Hepatitis C is three times higher and rising in Indigenous populations. The worsening problem is mainly due to higher rates of unsafe drug injecting and possibly higher rates of incarceration, where the prevalence of intravenous drug use is much higher among Indigenous prisoners, according to multiple studies. First Nations people need accessible and affordable health care and Community Controlled Health Services have proven time and time again to be the best model for treatment, Lisa Briggs, CEO of Naccho said.

Indigenous health experts gathered at University of Wollongong this week to introduce an Indigenous trauma recovery program developed at Harvard University.

"Evidence shows us that the processes of colonisation, with the loss of land, identity, family, layers into compound trauma - and what we're finding as evidence is compound trauma rolls into physical and psychological problems," said Debra Hocking -

A groundbreaking study on Aboriginal mothers in West Australian prisons has revealed the devastating effects of high levels of intergenerational incarceration on families.
Western Australians Curtin University researchers conducted interviews with 84 Aboriginal mothers in prisons across the state as part of a National Health and Medical Research Council-funded project, examining the experiences of First Nations women in prison in WA and NSW.

It is little wonder that Hawke's efforts at a treaty with Aboriginal Australia failed when the best plan he can envisage for lifting communities out of poverty is to offer a toxic trade-off for access to basic services that all other citizens enjoy.

This really demonstrates how bereft of responsible policy ideas some politicians are, both in regards to tackling Aboriginal disadvantage and dealing responsibly with the nation's growing radioactive waste problem.

First Nations children are eight times more likely to be receiving child protection services than non-Indigenous kids, and more than 10 times more likely to be placed in out-of-home care, a report has revealed.

Across Australia, 68% of children placed in care are placed with relatives or kin, other Indigenous caregivers or in Indigenous residential care, in line with the Aboriginal Child Placement Principle.

Summary by Helen Davidson (Guardian) and link to Full Report