<
https://theconversation.com/timely-home-repairs-are-needed-for-good-health-in-remote-aboriginal-communities-265878>
"For people living in metro areas, a broken hot water system or washing machine
is a nuisance. But it can usually be sorted by a phone call for a same-day
repair or a quick trip to the hardware store.
In remote communities, the same repair is slowed by distance and lack of
services, often taking weeks or months to fix. When families can’t easily wash
themselves or their clothes, the risk of infections, including skin infections,
rises.
Compared with non-Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal people are 2.3 times more
likely to be hospitalised and 1.7 times more likely to die from illnesses
linked to poor environmental conditions.
Illnesses such as acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease – often
driven by untreated skin sores and sore throats – remain common in remote
communities. These diseases were once widespread among all Australian children,
but have largely disappeared elsewhere thanks to improvements in housing and
services.
There’s been plenty of public discussion about remote housing but the voices of
people living with these conditions is usually missing.
To inform this discussion, we yarned with more than 200 people over four years
about housing, infrastructure and the services they rely on to stay healthy
across nine communities in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Our
results are published in
Health & Place."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
