wfn.org | Urgent Health Concerns of Indigenous

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Australians 

November 19, 2000
Adventist Press Service (APD)
Christian B. Schaeffler, Editor-in-chief
CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland
Fax +41-61-261 61 18
APD@stanet.ch
http://www.stanet.ch/APD

Urgent Health Concerns of Indigenous Australians 
Addressed at Conference

Wahroonga, Australia.            A three-day 
Indigenous Health Conference, held in Sydney, Australia, 
dealt with issues currently facing the indigenous 
Australian community, including illiteracy, drug and 
alcohol dependence, and higher-than-average rates of 
chronic disease. Attracting participants from around 
Australia, the conference ran from October 11 to 13 
and was specifically aimed at health and community 
workers, teachers, and others interested in health work 
within the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island 
communities.

The Australian Minister for Health, Dr. Michael 
Wooldridge, congratulated organizers of the conference 
for their initiative in addressing these pressing 
health issues facing indigenous Australians. Speaking 
by video, Wooldridge said indigenous health programs 
"can only be successful if there is cooperation and 
activity involving all levels of government, 
indigenous organizations, community organizations, 
and the people of Australia. Your conference is an 
example of such cooperation, and I really 
congratulate you for this initiative."

The Indigenous Health Conference was sponsored by the 
Seventh-day Adventist Church's Aboriginal and Torres 
Strait Islander Ministries, the Adventist Church's 
health department, and Sanitarium Health Food Company.  
It brought together specialists from a number of 
non-government organizations with experience in 
indigenous leadership programs, literacy, preventive 
health projects, mental health, diabetes, and alcohol, 
tobacco and drug dependency.

Laurie Evans, president of the Adventist Church in 
the South Pacific, opened the conference, reminding 
attendees of the tremendous challenges that exist for 
indigenous health.  He pointed out that some three 
out of every four deaths among indigenous Australians 
result from either heart attacks and strokes, road 
accidents, suicide and murder, respiratory diseases, 
cancers and diabetes.

"There have been rapid increases over the past ten 
years in the incidence of kidney disease and renal 
failures," said Evans. "Malnutrition continues  to 
contribute to growth retardation and predisposes 
children  to  infectious disease. According to the 
Census, only about 2.6 percent of  the indigenous  
population, around  10,000 people, were older than 
65 years, and in  the  light  of  what I have just 
mentioned, it is easy to understand why."

Adventist pastor, George Quinlan, an Aboriginal elder, 
said that the conference "has been a long time coming, 
but it's good that we have this opportunity to join 
together and share ways of improving the health of 
our people."

World Health Organization representative Dr. Harley 
Stanton, also of the Adventist Church health department, 
organized the conference. "It is my dream that the 
health gains experienced by much of the Australian 
population over the last century will also become 
reality for the indigenous community in the years 
ahead," said Stanton.