ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses Indigenous health status and outline current health promotion initiatives designed to reduce Indigenous health inequalities. It begins by discussing social indicators and health status and highlights two health problems—child health and circulatory disease. The chapter deals with a presentation of the National Health and Medical Research Council’s Values and Ethics: Guidelines for ethical conduct in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health research and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research Agenda Working Group ‘Road Map’. From the 2001 census, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population of Australia was estimated to be 460 140, which represented 2.4 per cent of the total Australian population. Contrary to popular belief, most Indigenous Australians do not live in rural and/or remote areas of the continent. The majority of Indigenous people live in the southern and eastern parts of Australia.
