Building bridges for healthcare

The average Aboriginal man in Australia today will die before his 60th birthday.

It’s a scary figure and one that local university staff and students were asked to help change at an event last week.

Last Tuesday the Student Health Alliance for Rural Populations (SHARP) held an event at the University of Wollongong called ‘Close the Gap’, aimed at bringing the health of indigenous Australians in line with their non-Indigenous neighbours.

Indigenous Australians die 17 years earlier on average than non-aboriginal Australians and the Indigenous infant mortality rate is triple that of the non-indigenous population.

Students and staff at the university were asked to sign a pledge outlining their support for ‘closing the gap’ between indigenous and non-indigenous health.

It is hoped the pledges will help prompt the government to commit to equalising the health of indigenous and non-indigenous people within 25 years by increasing annual Indigenous funding by $460 million.

Indigenous Health Student at UOW and Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander representative for the 24 student Health Clubs that form the National Rural Health Network Michael O’Halloran said it will be a decades-long job to bring indigenous health up to national standards.

Mr O’Halloran said his passion for the issue stemmed from his work with young Aboriginal people.

He said the reality is that many indigenous high school students in rural areas might not be alive in 40 years.

According to Mr O’Halloran, people can make a difference to the figures by standing up to racism when they see it.

He said a shift in attitude might make it easier for indigenous projects to get the funding they so desperately need..

University of Wollongong students who attended the event last week were shown a short movie on the issue which was put together by Oxfam, one of the many organisations behind the Close the Gap initiative.