Closing the Gap Isn't Working

Chris Gilford

Description

In Closing the Gap isn't working, retired General Practitioner Chris Gilford takes a critical look at the campaign which started in about 2008 and was intended to close the gap between the health, education and employment of First Nations Peoples and the rest of the Australian population. Sadly despite the spending of billions of taxpayers' dollars very few of the indices have shown any improvement. The author concentrates on the health issues and goes right back in history to find the causes of the gap. The colonialists contributed to the mortality of First Nations people with weapons and the germs they brought with them, but there is now a more insidious factor which is continuing to disproportionately affect First Nations people. Life expectancy and childhood mortality rates improved substantially in the major towns and cities in Australia before the onset of Modern Medicine with its heart surgery, kidney dialysis and virtually all the pharmaceuticals that are available today, but the improvement in remote areas has been far less. The Closing the Gap campaign has many faults, including the way the Federal Government has funded it, the way the Agencies who implement it are managed, the selection of key indicators and the response by the First Nations people. Despite this there is optimism that solutions can be found.

Sujets

• Ethnic Studies
• Social Science
• Sociologie, société et politique
• American

Informations

• Publié par: Xlibris AU
• Date de parution: 15 décembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669833512
• Langue: English

Extrait

Closing the Gap isn’t working
 
 
Billions of dollars of aid hasn’t helped First Nations People
 
 
 
 
 
Chris Gilford
 
Copyright © 2023 by Chris Gilford.
 
 
Library of Congress Control Number:
2022922683
ISBN:
Hardcover
978-1-6698-3353-6

Softcover
978-1-6698-3352-9

eBook
978-1-6698-3351-2

 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
 
This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
Rev. date: 13/12/2022
 
 
 
Xlibris
AU TFN: 1 800 844 927 (Toll Free inside Australia)
AU Local: [phone] ([phone] from outside Australia)
www.Xlibris.com.au
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This book contains details of many medical conditions and is designed to show how many of them can be prevented or mitigated. The advice given is general in nature and may not apply to individual circumstances. The book contains data from reports from many sources including Australian government bodies, but this does not imply that it has been endorsed by any of them.
CONTENTS
List of Abbreviations
Notes to the Reader
Chapter 1Introduction – The Closing the Gap Campaign
Chapter 2Origin of the Gap
Chapter 3First Nations Peoples
Chapter 4Health Problems Commoner in First Nations People
Chapter 5Childhood Health and Mortality
Chapter 6Lifestyle and Risk Factors
Chapter 7A Weighty Issue
Chapter 8Injury, Violence, Crime, and Punishment
Chapter 9Health Programmes
Chapter 10First Nations Culture in an International Context
Chapter 11Analysis of Closing the Gap
Chapter 12A New Approach
Appendices
References and Further Reading
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Child mortality rates
Figure 1a: Child mortality rates – modified
Figure 2: School attendance by jurisdiction
Figure 3: Attendance gap, years 1–10
Figure 4: Mortality rate
Figure 4a: Mortality rate – modified
Figure 5: Life expectancy
Figure 6: Birthweight
Figure 7: Vavilov centres
Figure 8: Life Expectancy, Australia and UK
Figure 9: Vaccine-preventable deaths
Figure 10: Mornington liquor sign
Figure 11: Map of Outstations
Figure 12: Percentage of First Nations diabetics by BMI
Figure 13: Syphilis notifications
Figure 14: Remoteness map
Figure 15: Prevalence of obesity by age and ethnicity
Figure 16: Trend in obesity
Figure 17: BMI and mortality
Figure 18: Distribution of BMIs in Normanton
Figure 19: Medicare services by age
Figure 20: Hypothetical Medicare services by BMI
Figure 21: People dying by age group
Figure 22: Close the Gap Poster
Figure 22: Percentage of deaths below 35
 
 
All the figures, apart from the author’s photographs, have been obtained from websites and reports with a Creative Commons licence or are in the public domain, except for Figure 13, for which permission was obtained from the Department of Health and Aged Care, which owns the copyr ight.
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Year 12 attainment by remoteness
Table 2: Scores for the 2020 report
Table 3: Summary of the seventeen new outcomes
Table 4: Dates when new drugs were introduced
Table 5: Population of Australian states and territories
Table 6: BMI and weight categories
Table 7: Risk of diabetes for different ethnic groups
Table 8: Diabetic numbers in Normanton
Table 9: Treatments for type 2 diabetes
Table 10: Childhood mortality in certain countries
Table 11: Structural birth defects
Table 12: Deaths from SIDS and SUDI
Table 13: Deaths of young children from injury and poisoning
Table 14: Non-compliance with guidelines
Table 15: Alcohol and presentations at Mornington Island Hospital
Table 16: Proportion of people by remoteness
Table 17: Numbers of people by remoteness (thousands)
Table 6: BMI and weight categories
Table 18: WHR and weight categories
Table 19: Prevalence of obesity by country
Table 21: Size of T-shirts
Table 22: Percentage of deaths below 35
Table 23: Homicide rates in selected countries
Table 24: Ethnic background of victims and offenders
Table 25: Characteristics of assault victims
Table 26: Impact of colonialists on First Nations people
Table 27: Life expectancy of different races in the USA
Table 28: Life expectancy of different races in Canada
Table 29: Life expectancy of different races in New Zealand
Table 30: Life expectancy differences in five countries
Table 31: Life expectancy gaps over ten years
Table 32: Increase in number of First Nations people
Table 33: The health targets
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
ABS
Australian Bureau of Statistics
ACTH
Adrenocorticotropic hormone
AIC
Australian Institute of Criminology
AIDS
Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome
AHW
Aboriginal health worker
AIHW
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
ATODS
Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs Service
BCE
Before the Common Era (formerly BC [before Christ])
BMI
Body mass index
BMR
Basal metabolic rate
CDC
Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (USA)
CE
Common Era (formerly AD [anno Domini])
CMV
Cytomegalovirus
CTG
Closing the Gap
DTs
Delirium tremens
ED
Emergency Department
ESKD
End-stage kidney disease
GBH
Grievous bodily harm
GBS
Group B streptococcus
GFR
Glomerular filtration rate
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus
ICOP
Indigenous Cardiac Outreach Programme
IHD
Ischaemic heart disease
IQ
Intelligence quotient
IROC
Indigenous Respiratory Outreach Care
NACCHO
National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation
NHMRC
National Health and Medical Research Council
NWRH
North and West Remote Health
PCYC
Police Citizens Youth Clubs
PBS
Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
PSGN
Post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis
PTSD
Post-traumatic stress disorder
RFDS
Royal Flying Doctor Service
RHD
Rheumatic heart disease
SIDS
Sudden infant death syndrome
STIs
Sexually transmitted infections
SUDI
Sudden unexpected death of an infant
THC
Tetrahydrocannabinol
UNESCO
United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation
UNICEF
United Nations Children’s Fund
WHO
World Health Organisation
WHR
Waist-hip ratio
WQPCC
Western Queensland Primary Care Collaborative Limited
 
NOTES TO THE READER
T HE TERM ‘INDIGENOUS’ has been used for most of the last forty years when referring to descendants of the origi