Positive Results in the AIHW Healthy for Life Report

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PDF printable version of Positive Results in the AIHW Healthy for Life Report (PDF 211 KB)

1 March 2013

Improvements in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health have been detailed today, in the latest Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report into maternal health, child health and chronic disease management.

Minister for Indigenous Health Warren Snowdon said he was happy to see that the Healthy for Life: results for December 2007-June 2011 showed the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander low birth-weight babies decreasing and the proportion of normal birth-weight babies increase from 80 per cent to 84.2 per cent.

“The report provides further evidence that we are on track to close the gap in infant mortality by 2018,” he said.

“It is especially good to see the proportion of expectant mothers consuming alcohol in the third trimester dropped from 21.4 per cent in 2008 to 17.9 per cent in 2011. That’s a good result for expectant mums and for little babies.

“More Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who need it are accessing chronic disease care, with those aged 15–54 years increasing from 11.7 per cent in 2008 to 15.2 per cent in 2011, as did the proportion aged 55 and over – from 14.7 to 20.7 per cent,” Mr Snowdon said.

The management of chronic disease in general practice has improved with the proportion of clients with type 2 diabetes who had a General Practitioner Management Plan increasing from 24.8 per cent in 2008 to 31.6 per cent in 2011, and the proportion with a team care arrangement also increasing over that period. Blood pressure testing in the last six-month period was up by 9.6 per cent between 2007 and 2011.”

The flexible Healthy for Life program allows services to develop priorities in line with local needs and the data is used to improve service planning and delivery. It also acts as a reliable study for further analyses of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health.

Currently around 100 primary healthcare services participate in the program in 57 sites located in urban, regional and remote centres across the country.

Funding for the Healthy for Life program is ongoing.

For more information, contact the minister’s office on 02 6277 7820