IMPROVEMENT OF LIFE EXPECTANCY GAP IN AUSTRALIA

Other inequalities portrayed in the Australian society included the fact that indigenous children were detained by the juvenile justice system at a rate of up to five times that of other Australian youth. Also, the child protection system supported an overrepresentation of indigenous children. The Close the Gap Campaign was therefore the product of national advocacy aimed at eliminating the inequalities in the provisions of social amenities, government services and national resources to indigenous Australians who were considered to be discriminated against and forgotten in what appeared to institutionalized bias. Before the Australian government, in 2008, joined the Close the Gap campaign, the project was initially conceived and launched by non-government agencies. Some of the specific targets included in the Close the Gap initiative included improvements in school attendance, employment, education, mortality and life expectancy.

​ ​ Evidence that the Close the Gap initiative is not moving towards its goal can be seen in the fact that despite Australia boasting of some of the highest rates of life expectancy, low longevity of life has persisted among indigenous peoples. Life expectancy is one of the most popularly applied parameters used to assess the overall health of a population. Life expectancy is approximated from the death rates in a population and is expressed in a variety of ways including the expected number of years that remain for an individual of a specific age, or the number of years a baby is expected to live (AIHW, 2012). The examination of trends, patterns and causes in mortality are also instrumental in explaining changes and differences in a population’s health, in guiding policy-making and planning and in contributing to the evaluation of health interventions and strategies.

The health crisis encountered by Australia’s indigenous population that has created significant distinctions between indigenous peoples and other Australians (Biddle & Yap, 2013). Also, between 2009 and 2013, the rate of death non-indigenous deaths below age 75 was about 35%, while indigenous deaths below age 75 was about double this number at 80 % (AIHW,2016). ​ Other studies have also established a strong causal link between poor health and lower life expectancy for indigenous Australians. According to Durey & Thompson (2012), between 2014 and 2015, close to 50% of indigenous persons aged at least 15 years reported experiencing a disability compared to less than 20% of the country’s total population. Also, in the same period, the rates of hospitalisation for the entirety of chronic disease with the exclusion of cancer were extremely high for indigenous peoples compared to those of other Australians.

In fact, indigenous persons were hospitalised eleven times more than the non-indigenous population for kidney failure and 50% more for cardiovascular disease in this period. Also, physical inactivity was blamed for the high rates of chronic illnesses among this community leading to a high rate of diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases (AIHW, 2016). More than 60 % of indigenous adults in non-remote areas and about 56 % of those in remote areas were found to lead sedentary lives or lives with low physical activity. ​ Furthermore, the fact that preventable diseases are the primary cause of deaths among indigenous Australians thus bringing about the aspect of lifestyle and willingness to engage in health promotion behaviour into the picture. According to a national health and demographic survey , mortality for indigenous Australians in the 2008-2012 interval was mostly attributed to respiratory diseases (8%), diabetes and other metabolic and nutritional disorders (9%), cancer (20%), cardiovascular disease (25%) and external causes including road traffic accidents and suicide (15%) (Lawrence, Hancock & Wisely, 2013).

In comparison with non-indigenous Australians, cancer and cardiovascular illnesses represented a lower number of deaths. Also, despite its focus on chronic illnesses and injuries as the primary cause of death among the indigenous Australian communities thus helping to maintain a significant difference in the longevity of life observed in the country that were grounded on ethnicity, the AIHW reports, for instance, did not provide adequate information or research on the behavioural contributions as well as the impact of individual habits on the gap in life expectancy in Australia (Durey & Thompson, 2012). These behavioural risk factors include physical activity diet and smoking while social determinants include employment, education and income. Social determinants and behavioural risk factors contribute heavily to the disparity in health outcomes and ultimately, the gap in life expectancy and thus must receive maximum attention (Durey & Thompson, 2012).

Also, weaknesses in the literature behind the review on the performance of the Close the Gap initiative includes the fact that there was little data to on the health literacy levels of the indigenous people that would have supported levelling some blame against them for engage in risky health behaviours including excessive smoking, drinking and lack of exercise. On the other hand, there is also little data to support the fact that Australian authorities through the Close the Gap initiative have been educating both indigenous children and adults on health promoting behaviour.  Beyond closing the gap: Valuing diversity in Indigenous Australia (Vol. Canberra: Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, ANU. Altman, J. C. , & Fogarty, W. au/getmedia/9844cefb-7745-4dd8-9ee2-f4d1c3d6a727/19787-AH16.