DIARRHOEAL DISEASE IN ABORIGINAL AND NON‐ABORIGINAL INFANTS AND YOUNG CHILDREN IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Abstract

There were remarkable differences in the rates of admission to hospital for gastroenteritis of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal infants and children in Western Australia during the eight-year period, 1971 to 1978. Although Aborigines made up only 3.7% of the State's population under five years in 1976 (the last census year) they accounted for 42% of admissions to hospital for gastroenteritis and had 58% of the bed occupancy for that disease. The highest rates of admissions were for rural infants, whether they were Aboriginal or not. Other infections, particularly of the respiratory tract, were other common causes of admission to hospital. There has been a very encouraging decline in deaths from diarrhoeal diseases, particularly in young Aborigines, in the period reviewed. Hospital admission rates also decreased for Aborigines during the latter half of the study, with the largest fall occurring in metropolitan infants, but there is still a very wide gap between the rates experienced by the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal population under five years of age.