Alwin Chong, University of South Australia et Fiona Arney, University of South Australia
New reports show a widespread lack of care for the cultural needs of many of the 19,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in child protection and out-of-home care.
Hundreds of Aboriginal people were incarcerated on Dorre and Bernier islands for “venereal disease” between 1908 and 1919. The lock hospitals were penal rather than therapeutic institutions.
Chair of the Prime Minister’s Indigenous Advisory Council, Warren Mundine, told Q&A that $30 billion is spent every year on 500,000 Indigenous people in Australia. Is that right?
A new report highlights how little we know about what works and what doesn’t when it comes to publicly-funded Indigenous programs. It’s a similar story in other policy areas – but we can do better.
Almost half of pregnant Indigenous women smoke compared to one in eight in the non-Indigenous population. This means 7,000-9,000 Indigenous babies every year are exposed to smoking in the womb.
Where birthing on country is not offered, women leave their families weeks before birth. Or she can choose to give birth in her community without skilled birth attendants, which is risky.
Mainstream family violence services must also become culturally sensitive and responsive so they too can provide services to Indigenous community members.
After years of neglect and a notable absence in last week’s Closing the Gap report, nutrition is finally being recognised as integral to closing the gap on Indigenous disadvantage.
Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disability are managed mostly by police, courts, prison and hospitals. It’s costing us millions, when kinder and cheaper alternatives exist.
Australia’s high rates of imprisonment and re-imprisonment of Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disabilities is not only shameful, it is entirely predictable and preventable.
Q&A presenter Tony Jones asked psychologist and research fellow Pat Dudgeon if Indigenous youth suicide rates across the top half of Australia are the highest in the world. We check the research evidence.
James Ward, South Australian Health & Medical Research Institute; Donna B Mak, University of Notre Dame Australia; Johanna Dups, Australian National University et Nathan Ryder, University of Newcastle
The syphilis outbreak in Central Australia is not about child abuse. But it highlights the urgent need for investment in sexual health services for Aboriginal Australians living in remote areas.
In the Northern Territory, public drunkenness can force someone into an alcohol treatment centre for three months. The policy has no basis in evidence and discriminates against Aboriginal people.
Aeron Hurt, WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza
It’s that time of year again when scientists and doctors make predictions about the impending flu season and we must decide whether to go out and get the flu vaccine.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have significantly poorer health and lower life expectancy than other Australians. But while reducing these inequalities is a priority for governments, national…
In some jurisdictions of Australia, the rate of Indigenous children in foster, kinship and residential care on any one night has reached almost one in ten. This rate is almost ten times higher than non-Aboriginal…
Independent journalist and health writer; Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney; Founder of Croakey.org. PhD candidate, University of Canberra