The medical journal The Lancet, in collaboration with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Survival International, has this week launched a high-profile series of articles highlighting the shocking health crisis facing indigenous peoples worldwide.
The series provides evidence that across rich and poor countries, the health of indigenous peoples who have suffered colonialism and loss of land is significantly worse than that of the rest of the population.
In Australia, life expectancy for Aboriginal men is 59 years, compared to 77 for Australian men as whole. The infant mortality rate among Aborigines is three times the rate for the whole of the country. The Guarani in Brazil have the highest suicide rate in South America.
Survival's director Stephen Corry said today: Indigenous peoples' ill health is the legacy of centuries of colonisation, discrimination, poverty and loss of control over their lands and resources. It is one of the most urgent humanitarian issues of the 21st century.'
Survival is working to defend isolated tribal peoples, who are in danger of being wiped out by new diseases and theft of their land. The Jarawa of the Andaman Islands in India have recently been struck by measles for the second time since they came into contact with outsiders. The Akuntsu tribe of the Brazilian Amazon has been reduced to six people, after all their relatives were killed by introduced diseases, violent clashes with invading cattle ranchers and the destruction of their land and communal houses by bulldozers.
ENDS
To read the Lancet's articles visit https://www.thelancet.com/collections/series/indigenous_health
Photos and footage available. For more information call Miriam Ross on (+44) (0)20 7687 8734 or email [email protected]
The Lancet: Indigenous people's health worst in world
June 2, 2006
Related news articles
- Pulitzer Prize-winner sued by Papuans for US$10 million - Fri May 15, 2009
- 'Mother Earth in climate crisis' say indigenous people - Tue May 12, 2009
- Key law annulled by top judges - Wed April 15, 2009
- Commonwealth Day: 'utter' and 'shameful' failure for indigenous peoples - Thu March 05, 2009
Most recent
- Global protests mark int’l day of action to #SaveHasdeo - Mon May 09, 2022
- Bushmen anger as beloved elder refused burial in Botswana game reserve - Mon April 25, 2022
- Venezuela and Brazil: Violence and destruction escalate in the Yanomami territory - Tue April 19, 2022
- India: massive coal mining expansion in tribal forests green-lighted - Wed April 13, 2022