health

Thalia Anthony, Associate Professor in Law, University of Technology Sydney

Across Australia, Indigenous children constitute at least 54% of children in juvenile detention centres. The proportion of Indigenous children in penal detention centres in the NT is higher than in any other state or territory: 97% of children in NT juvenile detention centres are Indigenous. [node:read-more:link]

Clean water can help to break the link between poor hygiene and eye diseases such as trachoma.
(Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association [CAAMA])

Nina Lansbury Hall, Cindy Shannon, Paul Jagals 11 July 2016 [node:read-more:link]

Natalie Whiting from ABC Radio 'AM' reported this story on Thursday, April 14 [node:read-more:link]

The number of doctors working in Western Australia's First Nations Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHS) will be reduced from 56 to 19 under a policy proposed by the Federal Government, according to the Aboriginal Health Council of WA.

"We currently have 56 doctors working in our sector. With this decision that will severely reduce that back to 19 doctors," the council's chairwoman Michelle Nelson-Cox told ABC Kimberley. [node:read-more:link]

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." [node:read-more:link]

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. [node:read-more:link]

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. [node:read-more:link]