AMA calls for strategy to be rebuilt as indigenous life expectancy gap widens

The health gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians is widening and The Closing the Gap Strategy must be rebuilt from the ground up, according to the Australian Medical Association.

THE gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians is widening and The Closing the Gap Strategy has “all but unravelled”, according to the Australian Medical Association.

In releasing its Indigenous Health Report Card 2018, AMA president Dr Tony Bartone said the strategy needed to be rebuilt from the ground up to have any chance of closing the life expectancy gap.

Dr Bartone said 10 years on from when the strategy started, with the aim of achieving life expectancy equality by 2031, results had been “limited, mixed and disappointing”.

“If anything, the gap is widening as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health gains are outpaced by improvement in non-indigenous health outcomes,” he said.

“The strategy needs to be rebuilt from the ground up, not simply refreshed without adequate funding and commitment from all governments to a national approach.”

Speaking in Brisbane for the launch of the report card, Dr Bartone said it was time to address the myth that increased funding for aboriginal health services was some sort of special treatment.

Dr Tony Bartone has called for the strategy to be rebuilt from the ground up.

“Government spends proportionally more on the health of older Australians when compared to young Australians, simply because elderly people’s health needs are proportionally greater,” he said.

“The same principle should be applied when assessing what equitable indigenous health spending is, relative to non-indigenous health expenditure.”

An analysis of government spending in the report revealed that, for every $1 spent by the Commonwealth on primary health care for a non-indigenous person, only 90¢ was spent on an indigenous person.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare estimates that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander burden of disease is 2.3 times greater than the non-indigenous burden.

“This means that, for every $1 spent on health care for a non-indigenous person, $2.30 should be spent on care for an indigenous person,” Dr Bartone said.