Make Indigenous Poverty History - Australian Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality

Target 7: Remove the disparity, by 2015, between the Indigenous under-five mortality rate and that of non – Indigenous Australians.

• Indicator 14: Under-five mortality rate 
  
  
• Indicator 15: Infant mortality rate

Australia

Health, growth, and development in the first three years of life play a crucial role in outcomes later in life. Several studies show that low birth rate correlates with coronary heart disease and non – insulin dependent diabetes later in life.

Low Birth Weight Infants

A low birth weight baby weighs less than 2500 grams at birth. 

• Indigenous women are twice as likely to have a baby with low birth weight as non - Indigenous women. 
  
  
• More than twice as many Indigenous infants die before their first birthday as non – indigenous infants.   
  
  
• Most deaths are as a result of congenital disorders, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, respiratory and cardiovascular disorders and accidents (SCRGSP 2005).

Click here to go to Education Kit - worksheet four

Click here to go to Prayer sheet MDG 4

Click here to go to Goal 5 - Improve Maternal Health