Infectious disease in Aboriginal infants and children in Western Australia.

Over the decade from 1971 to 1980, there was a decline in Western Australia in the number of Aboriginal infants and children admitted to hospital with infections. The most marked change occurred in admissions for gastroenteritis and other infections in the Kimberley region in the far north of the State. Despite this decline, there is still a very wide gap between the rate of admission to hospital for infectious diseases of Aboriginal and that of non-Aboriginal infants and children. The decline reported here is considered to reflect improvements in health status caused by several interrelating factors, including improvement in the general standard of living, housing and hygiene, and the provision of comprehensive, community-based health programmes. Environmental contamination is still a major factor causing ill health in Australian Aboriginal communities.