Injury-related mortality and indigenous people.

摘要

We congratulate The Lancet on its series on the health of indigenous people, who make up around 6% of the world's population. However, injury-related problems were rarely noted.Injury is second only to heart disease as the leading cause of death among Native Americans and Australian Aboriginals,and is the leading cause of death among Aboriginal Canadians.In 1996 and 1997, compared with thetotal Canadian population, Aboriginal people were over six times as likely to die of injuries. Most of the 18 health regionsin Canada's high-Aboriginal group were identified as having the nation's lowest life expectancies or lowest disability-free life expectancies.Decades of health-related research have produced a large body of knowledge describing alarming rates of morbidity, mortality, and social and cultural disruption among indigenous people throughout the world, but have failed to deliver sustainable interventions to arrest the deepening spiral of ill-health. Effective interventions in indigenous health will require transdisciplinary, holistic approaches that explicitly incorporate indigenous health beliefs and engage with the social and cultural drivers of health. Culturally appropriate interventions tailored to specific local settings and problems will be necessary to reduce deaths from injury among indigenous people.We declare that we have no conflict of interest.