ABSTRACT
Social determinants are not the cause but an outcome of distant historical factors. In addition, the invocation of social determinants fails to explain what actually happens within the family to allow such a high level of morbidity. The records of the Moore River Native Settlement provide a microcosm of the morbidity and risk of early death from infectious disease and malnutrition experienced by Aboriginal children. For doctors and nurses involved in the health care of children it is distressing to identify growth faltering as a result of the mother not feeding a child who has typically lost her appetite after an intercurrent infection. This chapter also argues that the aetiology of growth faltering represents to a large part the outcome of the conflict of parenting beliefs and practices within the two societies, and thus a key sign of structural violence. Growth faltering can also be understood as a child's adaptation to nutritional stress.
