Indigenous Health: Australia, Canada, Aotearoa, New Zealand and the United States: Laying Claim to a Future that Embraces Health for Us All

Abstract

World Health Report (2010) Background Paper, No 33. Improving the health of all peoples has been a call across the globe for many decades and unfortunately remains an elusive goal today as the large disparities in health status of peoples found around the world have not diminished, and have arguably increased. Rather than referring to absolute differences in health, or health inequalities, we use a different term throughout this paper. We use the term health inequities because mere differences in health (or "inequalities") can be common in societies and do not necessarily reflect unfair social policies or practices. For example, natural ageing implies older people are more prone to illness - this paper does not review in detail the biologically driven health inequalities that exist, we focus instead on socially driven inequities. Yet, when differences are systematic, socially produced and unfair, these are considered health inequities. Certainly making judgments on what is systematic, socially produced and unfair, reflects value judgments and merits open debate. We are making explicit in this paper what our judgments are, and the basis for these judgments to facilitate scrutiny and debate. The World Health Assembly in 2009 (WHO 2009) passed a resolution endorsed by each of its 193 Member States - that reducing health inequities within and across countries should be a priority for all countries and development partners