A case study of physical and social barriers to hygiene and child growth in remote Australian Aboriginal communities

Elizabeth Mcdonald,David Brewster,Ross Bailie,Jocelyn Grace

doi:10.1186/1471-2458-9-346

Abstract

BackgroundDespite Australia's wealth, poor growth is common among Aboriginal children living in remote communities. An important underlying factor for poor growth is the unhygienic state of the living environment in these communities. This study explores the physical and social barriers to achieving safe levels of hygiene for these children.MethodsA mixed qualitative and quantitative approach included a community level cross-sectional housing infrastructure survey, focus groups, case studies and key informant interviews in one community.ResultsWe found that a combination of crowding, non-functioning essential housing infrastructure and poor standards of personal and domestic hygiene underlie the high burden of infection experienced by children in this remote community.ConclusionThere is a need to address policy and the management of infrastructure, as well as key parenting and childcare practices that allow the high burden of infection among children to persist. The common characteristics of many remote Aboriginal communities in Australia suggest that these findings may be more widely applicable.

Highlights

Despite Australia's wealth, poor growth is common among Aboriginal children living in remote communities
These children experience relatively high rates of poor growth, common childhood infections [4] and serious diseases such as acute rheumatic fever, rheumatic heart disease, and trachoma [5,6,7,8,9] compared to their non-Aboriginal peers, to Indigenous children living in North America and New Zealand, and to children from some developing countries [6,10,11]
This study explored the physical and social barriers to achieving safe levels of hygiene for Australian Aboriginal people living in remote communities in the NT

Summary

Introduction

Despite Australia's wealth, poor growth is common among Aboriginal children living in remote communities. Indigenous people tend to have relatively poor living conditions and health status compared to the general population of the countries in which they live This is associated with experiencing disadvantage across the generally recognised social determinants of health, as well as the consequences of acculturation and the loss of cultural cohesion [1]. For Australian Aboriginal children living in remote communities the situation is acute These children experience relatively high rates of poor growth, common childhood infections [4] and serious diseases such as acute rheumatic fever, rheumatic heart disease, and trachoma [5,6,7,8,9] compared to their non-Aboriginal peers, to Indigenous children living in North America and New Zealand, and to children from some developing countries [6,10,11]. In 2006, Indigenous (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) post-neonate infants (infants aged (page number not for citation purposes)

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion