22nd May 2010

Australia’s leading Indigenous Health Researchers are calling for more funding to tackle Youth Health in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations.

For 25 years Menzies School of Health Research has been working to find healthy solutions to address high rates of chronic and infectious diseases in Indigenous populations.

Menzies Director Professor Jonathan Carapetis said the diseases and health outcomes of Indigenous people are not unlike those in many developing countries, creating significant hurdles for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

“Diseases associated with poverty are prevalent throughout Australia’s remote Indigenous communities, in fact some of the highest rates of rheumatic heart disease and pneumonia in the world are found in Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.”

An Aboriginal child born today is 17 times more likely to suffer kidney failure, 40 per cent more likely to commit suicide and 12 times more likely to develop diabetes.

These high rates of preventable chronic disease are the main contributor to a 17 year gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

Professor Carapetis said it’s in the vulnerable teenage years that many children are faced with decisions that dramatically affect their long term health and education outcomes.

“Youth health must become a priority. It is a time when interventions can set a young person on the track to a long and healthy life. There is a lot of research into health solutions for Aboriginal children and adults, but up until now there hasn’t been the kind of dedicated research into Youth Health that’s really needed to guide good policy,” Professor Carapetis said.

Menzies School of Health Research and the AFL Foundation are calling for philanthropic funding to help establish this new focus.

The Menzies Foundation and the AFL have supported a new national television campaign for Menzies School of Health Research, raising awareness of Indigenous Health outcomes and calling for funding.

The campaign is being launched in Melbourne this weekend, with the stars of the Menzies ad visiting Melbourne to attend Dreamtime at the G.

The Television Commercial can be viewed at www.menzies.edu.au

Laetitia Lemke, Communications and Development Manager Ph: 08 89435018 | Mob: 0447 275 415 | Fax: 08 8927 5187 | www.menzies.edu.au