Asia-Pacific

UN conference unveils Australia's indigenous health record

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-08-30 18:04

CANBERRA -- A United Nations' (UN's) conference that has brought aid workers from across the globe to Melbourne, on Monday has been told of Australia's "appalling" record on indigenous health.

Aboriginal health campaigner Barbara Flick Nicol, who has extensive experience in indigenous health initiatives including as an adviser to the Australian Medical Association (AMA), said the nation was lagging well behind other countries with similar " colonial experiences."

"In countries such as Canada and ... New Zealand, people have made many gains," Flick Nicol told delegates at the UN conference which starts on Monday.

"And yet we still sit in a situation where the gap between our life expectancy and (that of) non-indigenous Australians nationally is thought to be 17 years."

Related readings:  Australia poll deadlock no closer to resolution  Australia sets for hung parliament  Australia should be a republic: PM  Australia PM Julia Gillard: First female leader fights close election  Bottoms up for ten tables of wine from Australia

"In one community where I worked, the life expectancy of Aboriginal men ... is 38 years. This is an appalling situation for a developed country to find itself in."

According to Australian Associated Press, Flick Nicol gave a speech during the opening ceremony at the 63rd Annual UN DPI/NGO ( Department of Public  Information/Non-Governmental Organization) conference.

The summit of about 1,400 delegates, representatives of more than 300 NGOs operating in the world's most impoverished nations, is focused on progress towards the Millennium Development Goals ( MDGs) -- ambitious targets for reducing global poverty by 2015.

Flick Nicol said that too often "bureaucratic processes" got in the way of the roll-out of health services by NGOs in remote Australia that could have boosted Australia's domestic efforts to meet its commitment to the MDGs.

"I want to throw out a challenge, a serious challenge, to the government of Australia: to put more effort into reaching the Millennium Development Goals," Flick Nicol, the Aboriginal woman of the Yawallyi nation, said.

"I also want to throw out a challenge to my own people: that we need to stop our alcohol abuse, our abuse of our children, our cigarette smoking, and all of the things that endanger our health. And all the money in the world can't change (that) if we can't take responsibility for ourselves."

The conference runs for three days at the Melbourne Conference and Exhibition Center.