ESTIMATION OF INDIGENOUS MORTALITY WHERE DESIGNATION OF INDIGENOUS STATUS ON DEATH CERTIFICATES IS UNRELIABLE

Funded Activity Summary

Mortality of indigenous Australians is regarded as unacceptably high compared to other Australians and compared to indigenous minorities in other similar countries. Indigenous mortality is based on data from WA, SA and NT, although some of the data are unreliable. There are few reliable data available in Qld, NSW, Vic or Tas because Indigenous status is significantly under-recorded on the death certificate. The objective of the research is to devise and validate indirect methods for estimating indigenous mortality in sub-populations where there are significant proportions of indigenous people, and where designation of indigenous status on death certificate is unreliable. This would permit assessment of mortality differentials and trends in a significant number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Qld, NSW, Vic and possibly Tas and provide new perspectives in the study of determinants of mortality in indigenous populations through comparisons of communities with relatively high and relatively low mortality, and allow population-based evaluation of the effectiveness of services and programs through surveillence of mortality trends and differentials. The methods rely on the basic premise that the total mortality of a population is contributed to by the mortality of its components in relation to their proportion of the total population. The units of analyses will be mainly municipalities. Mortality and proportion indigenous will be used in the comparison of municipalities with similar socio-economic and geographic characteristics, and mortality by municipality will be statistically modelled using various characteristics of these populations, including proportion indigenous (using ABS data). Methods will be validated by employing them on selected WA, SA and NT mortality data where designation of indigenous staus is considered reliable. Mortality estimates will then be made for indigenous communities in NSW, Qld, and other states.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2000

End Date: 01-01-2002

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $158,840.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Optometry

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

There are no SEO codes available for this funding activity

Other Keywords

age- and sex-specific mortality | demography | general mortality (indigenous) | indigenous health | mortality and vital registration | regional variation in indigenous mortality | validation and indirect estimation methods

Related Links