Indigenous children’s health report: health assessment in action

Smylie J (2009)
Indigenous children’s health report: health assessment in action.
Toronto: Centre for Research on Inner City Health, Keenan Research Centre

This report documents the health status of Indigenous children in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and America. Major health disparities exist between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children in these countries, Indigenous children having higher infant mortality, sudden infant death syndrome, child injury, accidental death and suicide, ear infections, respiratory tract infections, dental caries, and exposure to environmental contaminants compared to their non-Indigenous counterparts. Other common themes emerging among all four countries are: improving Indigenous identifying information; colonisation as an underlying social determinant of Indigenous health; poverty among Indigenous children; and limited access to health, economic, and social resources. Chapter three focuses on the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and the Australian experience.

 Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet abstract

• Further information:
  • View abstract
  • View report (PDF – 10.7MB)
  • View website: Keenan Research Centre
  • Indigenous Children’s Health Report Highlights Disparities in Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand
    View media release: St. Michael’s Hospital (30 March 2009)
  • Report blames social factors for Indigenous health gap
    View media release: ABC news (21 April 2009)
• Contact details:
  • Janet Smylie, MD MPH, Research Scientist, Centre for Research on Inner City Health, The Keenan Research Centre in the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael’s Hospital, email: Janet.smylie@utoronto.ca
  • Australian chapter: Jane Freemantle, PhD, Associate Professor, Principal Research Fellow, Centre for Health and Society, Melbourne School of Population Health, The University of Melbourne, email: j.freemantle@unimelb.edu.au
  • Australian chapter: Daniel McAullay, PhD (c), Senior Research Officer, PhD Candidate, Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, email: mcaullay@gmail.com