Australia lags behind in attempts to improve health of indigenous people

Australia's efforts to improve the health of its indigenous peoples lag behind those of similar wealthy countries, concludes a new report from Oxfam Australia and the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation.

The report compares the situation of Australian Aborigines with their indigenous counterparts in New Zealand, Canada, and the United States.

It shows that those three countries have narrowed the gap in life expectancy between non-indigenous and indigenous people to approximately seven years. In contrast, Australia's Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders still die at an age nearly 20 years younger than most other Australians.

Specifically, the report shows that life expectancy was 69 years for New Zealand's Maori people and 68.9 …