The Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet's annual Overview of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health status 2024 was released Monday, providing a summary of the most recent indicators of the health, wellbeing and social and cultural determinants of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia.
New to the Overview this year are Closing the Gap 'outcome boxes' indicating where health and wellbeing topics align with national policy that have been led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
HealthInfoNet Director Professor Bep Uink said the HealthInfoNet continues to develop the capacity to "accurately and authentically" represent the data and statistics that impact Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities.
"It is a journey that we share with other data-driven organisations such as the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and is buoyed by the recent release of the Framework for Indigenous Data Governance," she said, adding that a statement on how the principles of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Data Sovereignty have been embedded is available in the Overview.
The Overview provides information on social and cultural determinants reflecting the importance of context in interpreting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health statistics and focuses on specific health conditions and risk/protective factors that contribute to the overall health status.
In 2023, the leading causes of death among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were ischaemic heart disease (ICD), chronic lower respiratory diseases, diabetes, cancer of trachea, bronchus and lung and intentional self-harm (suicide).
The proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 55+ years with diabetes decreased from 35 per cent in 2018-19, to 29 per cent in 2022-23. Also, there has been a reduction in daily smoking for people aged 15 and over from 37 per cent in 2018-19 to 29 per cent in 2022 -23.
Professor Uink said the Overview should be read in the context of "our ongoing commitment to presenting data that empowers Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities while acknowledging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' ongoing efforts to improve the quality of current data sources in Australia".
"All data presented are secondary data meaning that it has been collected by organisations outside of the HealthInfoNet. With this in mind, we have applied the principles of the Maiam nayri Wingara Indigenous Data Sovereignty Collective to the Overview," she said.
