[A-List] Australia: institutionalised racism

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Epidemic of Aboriginal child illness

David Fickling in Sydney
Thursday November 21, 2002
The Guardian

Australia's reputation as the healthy "lucky country" was dealt a blow
yesterday when doctors warned of a growing epidemic of malnutrition among
Aboriginal children.

In the past decade, the number of indigenous children turning up at Northern
Territory hospitals with malnutrition has increased by more than 25%. Last
year the figure was more than 1,100 out of a total indigenous population in
the territory of about 50,000.

The research, compiled by Professor David Brewster of the Royal Darwin
hospital, showed that bronchiectasis, a debilitating lung condition which
affects just one in 2,000 Australian children as a whole, strikes one in
every 40 Aboriginal children.

Part of the problem is that some rural Aboriginal communities are extremely
remote, with floods cutting off townships from road transport for months
during the wet season.

The Australian bureau of statistics released further figures yesterday
showing that one in 20 Aborigines had diabetes - more than three times the
rate for other Australians.