Aboriginal men die on average 10 years younger than non-Aborigines, according the the results of the most comprehensive study ever conducted on the health of the nation's Aborigines.
As well as demonstrating the low life expectancy of Aborigines, the study by the Cabinet-level Council of Indigenous Peoples and Taiwan Epidemiology Association (TEA, 台灣流行病學學會) showed that Aboriginal people still have poorer access to medical resources than the average Taiwanese.
"A good number of the Aboriginal people live in distant mountainous areas and, due to inconvenient transportation, they usually suffer from a lack of medical resources and information," council chairman Chen Chien-nien (陳建年) said.
The survey, based on data collected in 2001, showed that the life expectancy of Aboriginal men was 63 years, compared with 73 for non-Aborigines, and Aboriginal women lived to 73, compared with 79 for non-Aborigines.
The study also revealed that a higher proportion of Aboriginal people died from accidents, cirrhosis and liver diseases, and tuberculosis (TB) than non-Aboriginal people.
Three times more Aborigines died from cirrhosis than non-Aborigines, and five times more Aborigines died from TB. For Aborigines living in mountainous areas, TB was even more devastating -- killing 13 times more Aboriginal males than non-Aborigines.
The survey also showed a stark contrast between the two communities in terms of birth and death rates.
Aborigines had a birth rate of 1.544 percent and a death rate of 0.758 percent, while for non-Aborigines the figures were 1.165 percent and 0.571 percent, respectively.
"A shorter lifespan and a higher death rate shows that the public health system still needs improvement as far as the Aboriginal tribes are concerned," said Taipei Medical University associate professor Chen Ping-ling (
Aborigines, often with poor access to medical services, often let health conditions become so severe they must be admitted to hospital before they seek help, Chen said, and preventive medicine was still an alien concept in the remote villages.
"Moreover, those who die from accidents, drug abuse, alcoholism and other lifestyle-related diseases have a tendency to use the national health insurance services less than average people," Chen said.
Chen concluded that the difference in the health condition, diseases and medical resources of Aborigines compared with the rest of society requires redress through government policy.
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