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Hi, my name's Blake Tatafu. I'm a Wiradjuri Dhungutti man from Western Sydney and I'm
here to talk to you about the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health survey,
which was run by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Our people experience poorer health
outcomes at higher rates and at younger ages than non-Indigenous people. The Australian
Government is committed to closing the gaps in health outcomes, and the survey provides
important information to help achieve this. About 13,000 people were surveyed in communities
and areas in metropolitan, regional and remote parts of Australia. If you were chosen it
means that you were representing not just people in your immediate community and area
but also people who live in similar areas to you. Some of the information collected
was personal or sensitive. But don't worry. Everything collected by the ABS is kept confidential
and can't be used to identify individuals or communities. It also means no-one outside
the ABS will ever see anyone else's health information, including other government agencies
like housing or Centrelink, researchers or marketing companies.
Hi there. My name is Dr Dana Slape. I'm a Larrika woman and I work at a hospital in
Western Sydney. The ABS recently ran the biggest ever health survey for Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander people. You and your family may even have been part of this and, if you
were, we want to thank you for your contribution. Now that the results are in we want to share
the story with you, as the information gained is not just for the government but it's for
our people too. We can all use it to make good decisions about our health and our future.
The survey collected lots of information about people's health like: How healthy do we feel?
How many of us have a health condition like kidney disease or heart disease? And are our
kids eating well and are they eating the right kinds of foods? All the data comes together
to give us a big picture of our health which tells us a lot of interesting things. 3 in
4 of our people said that they were in good health, very good health, or even excellent
health. It also tells us what sorts of foods we eat and how much exercise we're getting.
Plus how things like smoking and drinking affect our health. It's good to know that
fewer of our people are smoking than ever before, and the number of people smoking every
day has gone down over the last 10 years. Even better, more and more of our kids are
choosing not to smoke. Around 4 in 5 teenagers between 15 and 17 have never ever smoked,
which is the best since the recording started. If you want to quit smoking, you can talk
to your doctor, pop into your AMS or your local health clinic, or speak to the Quitline
on 13 7848 and ask to speak to an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Counsellor. It's
great to see our kids are eating plenty of fruit, but we also need to get them eating
more veggies too. A healthy weight helps us live longer and get more out of life. Giving
kids healthy food gives them the best possible start right from the beginning. Eating nutritious
food improves every part of our health and reduces the chance of us getting things like
heart disease, diabetes and even some kinds of cancer. The story about heart disease tells
us that cholesterol and blood pressure checks are really important. Without these checks
you might not know that you're at risk of having early heart disease. Around 1 in 4
of our people will have high blood pressure or high cholesterol by the age of 35 years
old. But by the age of 45 that's really as high as 1 in 3. What's scary too is that 9
out of 10 people didn't even know they had high cholesterol. So that's why regular health
checks are so important. Checking blood pressure and cholesterol helps doctors and health workers
to manage your health and to prevent other conditions. Have all the adults in your family
had their blood pressure and cholesterol checked? Now let's look at kidney disease. Most people
don't even know they're at risk. Around 1 in 10 people show signs of kidney disease
by the age of 35 years. By the age of 55 it's as high as 1 in 4 of us. 9 out of 10 people
at risk of kidney disease didn't even know it. So regular health checks are important
for everybody, even the little ones. Drinking plenty of water, instead of the soft drink
or juice, helps to keep your kidneys nice and healthy. When you look after your kidneys,
they help you to feel good and to stay really strong. Finally, let's look at diabetes. Our
people are over three times as likely to have diabetes as non-Indigenous Australians. We
also get diabetes at a much younger age. Diabetes puts you at risk of having a heart attack,
having a stroke, or even having trouble with your vision. This survey showed that around
1 in 10 of people have diabetes in our communities. Even more importantly, as many as 1 in 6 who
have diabetes aren't yet aware of it. That means that there are lots of people who aren't
getting the medical attention that they need. Knowing if you have diabetes helps you to
manage it, perhaps eating healthier food, doing more exercise, or popping into the clinic
a little bit more often, that will keep you well and strong. So now that we have all of
the information, how is it going to be of use to us and our communities? The information
is already being used to better understand what health services and programs are working,
and where more money and effort is needed. It's being used by organisations like the
Heart Foundation and the Kidney Foundation to target health programs for our people and
communities throughout Australia. More importantly, our people can use the information to help
us make good decisions about our health, our future, and to make sure our kids grow up
strong and happy.
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