Leading health organisations, the Dietitians Association of Australia and the Public Health Association of Australia, have joined forces with Australian Red Cross to draw attention to the health gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other Australians, due to food insecurity.
Photo above supplied by BushWOK Alice Springs
The three organisations are releasing their ‘Food Security for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ policy at Parliament House in Canberra today.
DOWNLOAD the POLICY DOCUMENT HERE
According to the organisations, one in four (24%) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People report food insecurity, compared with just five per cent of non-Indigenous Australians an issue they say is not getting any better and needs urgent attention.
Public Health Association of Australia CEO Michael Moore said: ‘We’re calling on all levels of Government to address food insecurity in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Many in this population group do not have access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to lead a healthy and active life.
‘Factors such as poverty, low or inadequate incomes, poor housing, including basic set-ups to store and prepare food, and less access to nutritious food place these Australians at higher risk.’
Claire Hewat, CEO of the Dietitians Association of Australia, said the result is that many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families go hungry, and that diet-related diseases run rife in this population.
‘Sadly, in this group of Australians, we see high rates of preventable diet-related diseases like obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease,’ said Ms Hewat.
She said nutrition needs to be a priority if the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is to improve.
According to Jennifer Evans, National Coordinator, Families Children and Food Security at Australian Red Cross, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people do not have an equal opportunity to be as healthy as non-Indigenous Australians, with poorer access to healthy food, primary health care and health infrastructure.
‘This is reflected in data showing life expectancy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is 11.5 years shorter for males and almost 10 years shorter for females, compared with other Australians,’ said Ms Evans.
The ‘Food Security for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ policy highlights the need for all levels of government to take the lead in addressing food insecurity, working with non-government organisations and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
ENDS
Media contacts:
Michael Moore, CEO, Public Health Association of Australia: 0417 249731
Emma Jones, Communications and Marketing Cadet Dietitian, Dietitians Association of Australia: 0409 661920.
Antony Balmain, Communications and Media Adviser, Australian Red Cross: 0408 018609
Background
Food insecurity includes periods of prolonged hunger, or anxiety about getting food or having to rely on food relief.
The ‘Food Security for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ policy highlights:
- The unacceptable health gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other Australians, related to food insecurity.
- Government needs to take the primary role in developing targeted food and nutrition security policies and actions. A whole of government approach, linking in with relevant agencies and partners, is needed.
- Mapping and reporting is needed on food and nutrition security in Australia, with a focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
- Future policies and policy actions to help achieve food and nutrition security need to involve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
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Dear NACCHO,
This is still way off the mark.
Modern vegetables may be slightly better than the prepared foods available in community stores which are run for mega-profits by outsiders and not health outcomes (or locally run businesses) but only just.
Potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, pumpkins, rice, the list goes on… are all high glycaemic index foods with significant content of highly available starches and sucrose. These high energy, low nutrient components have risen over the last few years as supermarkets have demanded pumped up, grotesque foods such as the monster sweet potatoes you see today. Even 20 years ago these were smaller, higher in fibre and full of a milky latex that was responsible for depressing the GI of the tubers. Now, this has been bred out with the fibre and what’s left is probably not worth eating.
Similarly, our fruits today are large, watery, high sucrose, low fibre and dilute antioxidant shadows of their ancestral forms. Research has also shown that oil soluble antioxidants are gone from modern fruits whereas wild fruits are still rich in this class of phytonutrients.
We really need to re-focus on the traditional foods on the many foraging groups around Australia. There is a wealth of opportunity for health, entrepreneurial endeavours and resource conservation if we do this well. Mining royalties are nice but are a ticket to hell. Biodiversity is destroyed, unearned money corrupts and corporate greed knows no end.
Wild foods should feature in this and other initiatives in communities of the Outback and urban areas too.
Cheers,
Vic
Kakadu Complex® – The antidote to Modern Foods
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