Enid Warringar, health worker mentor

Grog & drugs

There are many discriminatory preconceptions about Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people’s health and drug and grog use that both Indigenous and non-Indigenous healthcare workers need to consider and avoid.

To help separate fact from fiction, look at the images below to learn about Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people’s health and drug and grog use.


A folder of government statistics

Statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Indigenous life expectancy at birth are 67.2 for men (11.5 years less than mainstream) and 72.9 for women (9.7 years less than mainstream).

These figures are an average and vary widely between states and between urban, rural and remote localities.



Hospital

Rates of sickness and ill health for Indigenous Australians, which health care industry professionals use as an overall indicator of wellbeing, are three times the national average.



Gravestone

Indigenous death rates are higher, for almost every cause and for every age group, than the mainstream.



Cigarettes

National survey data shows that Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people are more likely than non-Indigenous people to:

  • be victims of violence
  • smoke
  • be obese.


A man playing a didgeridoo

The rate of Indigenous prisoners is 14 times higher than the mainstream and alcohol and drugs are increasingly the cause of imprisonment.



Three Indigenous women

The Office of the Status of Women reported a relationship between domestic violence and drug and alcohol use in Aboriginal communities, with between 70 and 90 per cent of assaults being committed while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.