Healthy Societies and Environments
The urban consolidation of the world’s population is creating inequality in many cities. You might like to explore inequalities in your state of area using the maps hosted by Torrens University.
Recall from your earlier readings that the greatest inequity in health in Australia is the gap in life expectancy between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and non-indigenous Australians.
The target to close the gap in life expectancy by 2031 is not on track.
The target is measured by estimates of life expectancy at birth, which are available every five years. [ABS, 2018]. According to the latest ABS estimates, Indigenous males born between 2015 and 2017 have a life expectancy of 71.6 years (8.6 years less than non-Indigenous males) and Indigenous females have a life expectancy of 75.6 years (7.8 years less than non-Indigenous females) (Table 6.1). Between 2010–12 and 2015–17, Indigenous life expectancy at birth has improved by 2.5 years for Indigenous males and by 1.9 years for Indigenous females (both not statistically significant), which has led to a small reduction in the gap.
While these improvements are welcome, they are not sufficient to meet the life expectancy target of closing the gap by 2031.
Chapter 6. Healthy Lives. Life Expectancy Targets in the Closing the Gap Report, 2019. https://ctgreport.niaa.gov.au/healthy-lives.html.
Many Indigenous people now live in cities: see Fredericks et al 2008.
You might like to also revisit Professor Howard Frumkin’s presentation above.
Using the five strategies for health outlined in the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion and the social and ecological determinants of health, how would you formulate a comprehensive agenda for healthy and equitable urban societies?
