Water supply and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health: an overview
Dataset Identification:
Resource Abstract:
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have lived successfully on the Australian continent for at least 40 000 years.
Their quest for water, based on an intimate knowledge of their environment, particularly in arid Australia, was a skilled
and specialised endeavour. Following the European occupation over 200 years ago, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
population decreased rapidly due to the ravages of colonisation. Introduced infectious diseases, such as smallpox, typhoid
fever, leprosy, and venereal disease, were a major factor in increased mortality and morbidity; tribal land displacement and
massacre of some communities was another major factor. The current health status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
people is poorer than that of other Australians. Their pattern of mortality and morbidity shows the burden of both infectious
and lifestyle diseases. This poor health status is associated with wide-ranging socioeconomic disadvantage. The environmental
living conditions of many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people remains an impediment to major health improvement.
The lack of adequate and safe water supplies is an important factor in the continued poor health status of many communities.
A recent national survey of housing and infrastructure needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population centres has
improved our understanding of the current water supply situation. Providing a safe adequate water supply alone will not automatically
result in any significant improvement in health. Many other factors are involved. However, safe water is the doorway to health
and health is the prerequisite for progress, social equity and human dignity (Napalkov, 1992). This paper examines the relationships
between water and health and why the many national surveys and enquires have failed to secure a noticeable and sustainable
benefit among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Citation
Title Water supply and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health: an overview
publication Date
1993-01-01T00:00:00
Series
Name AGSO Journal of Australian Geology and Geophysics
Issue 14:2-3:135-146
cited responsible party
-
publisher
organisation Name
Australian Geological Survey Organisation
Metadata standard for this record:
ANZLIC Metadata Profile: An Australian/New Zealand Profile of AS/NZS ISO 19115:2005, Geographic information - Metadata
standard version:
1.1
Metadata record identifier:
fae9173a-711b-71e4-e044-00144fdd4fa6
Metadata record format is ISO19139-2 XML (MI_Metadata)