· The population of a nation can be divided into specific groups when interpreting current health trends

· This makes it easier to see if there is an unequal distribution of some illnesses and conditions within each group. Some have shorter lives, higher levels of risk factors that contribute to preventable disease and injury, and a lower level of access and/or use of health services.

• Indigenous Australians tend to die earlier than non-Indigenous Australians and their death rates are almost twice those of non-Indigenous Australians.
• Indigenous boys born between 2010 and 2012 can expect to live to 69.1 years and Indigenous girls to 73.7 years compared with 79.7 for non-Indigenous boys and 83.1 for non-Indigenous girls.
• Indigenous Australians had higher death rates than non-Indigenous Australians across all age groups during 2007–2011. In the 35–44 age group, Indigenous people died at about 5 times the rate of non-Indigenous people.
• Between 2007 and 2011, Indigenous Australians were most likely to die from circulatory conditions (26% of all Indigenous deaths), cancer (19%) and external causes such as suicides, falls, transport accidents and assaults (15%).
• The largest gap in death rates between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians was in circulatory disease deaths (22% of the gap) followed by endocrine, metabolic and nutritional disorders (particularly diabetes) (14% of the gap).
• Indigenous Australians were 5 times as likely as non-Indigenous Australians to die from endocrine, nutritional and metabolic conditions (such as diabetes), and 3 times as likely to die of digestive conditions.
• Indigenous children aged 0–4 died at more than twice the rate of non-Indigenous children in 2012. Indigenous child death rates fell by 30% from 2001 to 2012 compared with 22% for non-Indigenous children.
• Indigenous Australians were at least twice as likely as non-Indigenous Australians to rate their health as fair or poor, and almost half as likely to rate their health as excellent or very good.

1. Why do health workers divide the population into specific groups?

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2. What are some aspects that people from a group experiencing health inequality experience?

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3. One such group is A_____________________ T__________________ S_________________ I________________________

4. How do death rates of ASTI people compare with the general population?

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5. What are the main causes of death for ASTI’s?

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6. What are the main differences between the ASTI and the general population in disease rates?

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7. Compare the health of ASTI children with the general population.

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