Alcohol killing one Indigenous person every 38 hours
New figures released today show that one Indigenous Australian dies every 38 hours from an alcohol-related illness. The cause of death for more than half of those counted since 2000 was cirrhois of the liver or suicide and the average age of death from an alcohol-attributable cause was just 35. So what can be done about this? Well while the Federal Government is mainstreaming services to Indigenous Australians, to combat rates of addiction, Aboriginal run centers around the country are developing community based solutions that are working. But they need more funding. Professor Dennis Gray is the deputy director of the National Drug Research Institute at Curtin University and he conducted the study, outlined its findings and explained what needed to be done to reverse this trend. Director Andrew Amour outlined the programs provided by the Milliya Rumurra Aboriginal Corporation in Broome.