17 March 2022
Today is National Close the Gap Day, observed on the third Thursday of March, a day which advocates for the health equity of Australia’s Indigenous people and educating the public about the health issues and barriers to wellbeing faced by them.
Since 2007, National Close the Gap Day brings together Australians from all over the country to advocate for health equity and take meaningful action to create better and more equitable conditions for the indigenous people. The campaign encourages people and organisations to plan events that draw attention to the health issues of Australia’s indigenous people and to support legislation and programs for the improvement of their conditions.
ABC-TV’s Four Corners this month investigated the shameful and, until now, hidden failure in public health taking place in remote Australian communities - the “world record rates” of Rheumatic Heart Disease among Indigenous people - a condition which has largely vanished for the majority of the Australian population.
"We stand back and watch children, time after time again, year after year, decade after decade, having still the same end result. Which is dying far too young,’’ says a cardiologist.
Right now, in Australia there are young women dying from an easily preventable medical condition and an appalling lack of health care, Four Corners reports. “This should be a national scandal.’’
To quote an Indigenous health advocate: "If that was a white kid, in middle class Sydney, there'd be an uproar, okay? But it's not a white kid. You know? It's an Aboriginal kid living in the bush.
"It's not fair. It's racist. It's unacceptable in Australia in 2021 and we're not going to cop it anymore."
Watch the program here
The ANMF (SA Branch) believes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should have:
- Equitable and affordable access to health services that support their health and wellbeing.
- All health services should focus on improving accessibility for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples through the provision of culturally safe and respectful health care services.
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should be provided access to nursing and midwifery education through further incentives and assistance which will attract Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to a career in nursing and midwifery in numbers that will increase the numbers to that which at least reflect the proportion of Indigenous people in the wider community.
Please see the ANMF (SA Branch) Health Policy Position Statement on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health (Page 7)
Click here for more on National Close the Gap Day