Odette Best

'Closing the Gap': Nurses and Midwives Making a Difference

[Extract] Life expectancy at birth is one of the main indicators of health inequality. Current health and social status indicators for Australian Indigenous people demonstrate major discrepancies in comparison to other Australians. For example, in Australia in 2005-2007 the Indigenous life expectancy gap at birth was 11.5 years for males and 9.7 years for females (ABS 2009). This gap has remained relatively constant over the last few decades (ABS 2008). While the main causes of death for Indigenous Australians are similar to those of non-indigenous Australians, the percentages attributed to the different disease categories are significantly different. For example, death from external causes is 16.2 % for the Indigenous population compared to 6.3 % for non-Indigenous, and diabetes is 8% for Indigenous Australians compared to 2.4% for non-Indigenous (ABS & AIHW 2008).