Description

Using the health hardware method to measure poverty in Indigenous Australia

EILEEN WILLIS

Associate Professor, School of Medicine, Flinders University, Adelaide SA, Australia

MERYL PEARCE

School of Geography, Population and Environmental Management, Flinders University, Adelaide SA, Australia

CARMEL MCCARTHY

School of Geography, Population and Environmental Management, Flinders University, Adelaide SA, Australia

SHARON MEAGHER

Unaipon School, Division of Education, Arts and Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide SA, Australia

BEN WADHAM

School of Education, Flinders University, Adelaide SA, Australia

ABSTRACT

Two issues confront researchers concerned with the relationship between poverty and health. The first deals with the problem of an accurate measure of poverty. The second deals with revealing for policy makers the pathway between poverty and health status. This is an arena where research is still very much embryonic despite the strong evidence that poverty is a social determinant of health. This paper outlines a method used with four remote Aboriginal communities in South Australia to establish a correlation between poverty and health. Drawing on Tregenza and Tregenza’s adaptations to the Cost of Living methodology we incorporated a wide range of health hardware, health consumables and food into poverty predictions for four Aboriginal communities. While the method cannot generalize findings to larger population groups it does provide clear evidence to the participants and policy makers of the impact of poverty on well-being.

Keywords: cost of living, poverty rates, Aboriginal Australia, health hardware and health consumables