The good will to 'close the gap'

Commensurate funding will be crucial in closing the 17-year life expectancy gap. Achieving Indigenous health equality relies on an enormous investment in primary health care spending for Indigenous Australians in essential medicine, immunisation, maternal and child health and the prevention and control of disease.

Crucial to closing the gap is investment in Aboriginal community-controlled health services such as the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service in Fitzroy, which last week celebrated its 35th birthday.

It has an annually elected Aboriginal board, and a majority of Aboriginal health staff and management. It is “close the gap” in action, consistently achieving a 91 per cent child immunisation rate, compared to rates of less than 50 per cent for Aboriginal children elsewhere in Victoria.

Meanwhile, a 2007 report by the Australian Medical Association uncovers evidence of inherent discrimination in our health system. Racism is just one of the social determinants of Indigenous health. Others include housing, water and sanitation and successful Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health programs have been those that have recognised and addressed the broad range of these determinants.

With COAG meeting today in Sydney, let’s maintain pressure on state, federal and territory governments to release details of their commitments with timeframes, targets, and priorities to address the Aboriginal health crisis. But let’s also look to ourselves and assess how we can change our own behaviour to help create a social environment that is conducive to achieving Aboriginal health outcomes.

Let us be the generation that closed the gap and finally achieved Indigenous health equality.