Public Policy and Mortality Among Indigenous Populations of Northern America and Australasia

Abstract

This article argues that the differences in the mortality experiences of the indigenous peoples of Australia Canada New Zealand and the United States are accounted for largely by the presence or absence of treaties and the ways in which they have been interpreted. Where treaties have been signed they have given indigenous people a claim in law to a variety of benefits including the provision of health services a claim that is difficult to make in the absence of a treaty. The differential availability of services accounts for differences in the timing of declines in mortality due to infectious diseases as well as in death rates. It does not seem to account for differences in the incidence and prevalence of manmade and chronic conditions the causes of which remain largely unknown. The varying degrees of success of different kinds of health programs in reducing mortality from infectious disease raise questions about the most effective ways to provide services in societies with vast differences in health status wealth and cultures. (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA) (EXCERPT)