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High rates of vaccination of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians: an underappreciated success?
Author(s) -
Beard Frank H,
Clark Katrina K
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/mja2.50234
Subject(s) - indigenous , medicine , cervical screening , vaccination , cervical cancer , shame , human papillomavirus , demography , incidence (geometry) , environmental health , political science , cancer , sociology , immunology , ecology , physics , optics , law , biology
The health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indig enous) Australians should be of concern to all Australians. Many read ers of the Journal will be aware that cervical cancer incidence is twice and mortality four times as high among Indigenous women as among non Indigenous women.1 This grossly ineq uitable situation is largely attributable to the lower participation of Indigenous women in cervical screening programs because of a variety of socio cultural and health system related barriers, including shame, cultural safety, and problems of access.1,2