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 Migrant
Health
Migrant
Australians are Healthier than the Australian-born
According
to the 2001 census, just over one fifth
(22%) of the Australian population is born
overseas. Most foreign born immigrants come
from the UK (1,036,245), followed by New
Zealand (355,765); Italy (218,718); Vietnam
(154,831); China (142,780); Greece (116,431)
and Germany (108,220). The most common foreign
ancestry reported was English (33.9%), followed
by Irish (10.2%), Italian (4.3%), German
(4%), Chinese (3%), Scottish (2.9%) and
Greek (2%).
The
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
8th biennial report "Australian Health
Inequalities" concluded that death
rates for migrants were 10 to 15% lower
during the 1990s than those born in Australia.
However, this is against a backdrop of remarkable
improvements in longevity and reduction
in disability in the Australian population
as a whole, as judged by the World Health
Organisation (WHO) 'Disability Aadjusted
Life Expectancy' (DALE). Australia is the
only English speaking country in the top
10 on the DALE scale, and is second to Japan
..... more
A senior analyst at the institute (Michael
de Looper) reported in the AGE (26/7/2002)
that "the longer migrants live in Australia,
the more their health advantages disappear
and start to match Australian levels as
a whole. One of the costs of acculturation
is the lost health advantages ......previous
research has shown that the healthiness
enjoyed by first generation migrants quickly
faded in their children".
Asian-born Australians are the healthiest,
followed by people born in Europe. Asian-born
men were 46% less likely to die from colorectal
cancer and 25% less likely to die from coronary
heart disease. Diet and other lifestyle
factors have contributed to the better health
of migrants, but the main reason appears
to be due to 'selection effects'. The migration
process itself tends to be highly selective
for health, both explicitly by the health
criteria applied by the Australian Government
to people seeking to migrate to Australia
and also because people who are in poor
health are less likely to have the ability
and economic resources to migrate.
HEC's Professor Mark Wahlqvist was also
interviewed about this report and was quoted
in the AGE (26/7/2002) "that migration
had greatly improved the health of all Australians,
especially through better diet" and
that this "had helped Australia reach
second place after Japan on the WHO scale
of DALE.
To read more about this:
http://www.aihw.gov.au/media/2002/mr020627.pdf
http://www.aihw.gov.au/media/2002/mr020726.html
Healthy
Eating Club's Professor Mark Wahlqvist and
Dr Antigone Kouris-Blazos have studied
the diet, health and survival of Greek Australian
migrants; publications
are as follows:
Kouris-Blazos
A, Wahlqvist M, Wattanapenpaiboon N. 'Morbidity
mortality paradox' of Greek-born Australians:
possible dietary contributors. Australian
Journal Nutrition and Dietetics, 1999; 56
(2): 97-107; on-line
abstract
Kouris-Blazos
A, Wahlqvist ML, Trichopoulou A, Polychronopoulos
E, Trichopoulos D. Health & Nutritional
Status of elderly Greek migrants to Melbourne,
Australia. Age Ageing 1996; 25: 177-189.(on-line
abstract)
Trichopoulou
A, Kouris-Blazos A, Wahlqvist ML, Gnardellis
Ch, Lagiou P, Polychronopoulos E, Vassilakou
T, Lipworth L, & Trichopoulos D. Diet
and overall survival in elderly people.
British Medical Journal 1995; 311 (7018):
1457-1460 (on-line
full text article)
Wahlqvist M,
Kouris-Blazos A, Wattanapenpaiboon N. The
significance of eating patterns: an elderly
Greek case study. Appetite 1999; 32: 23-32;
on-line
full-text article
Other
resources on the Australian Migrant experience:
Book written by journalist
Mr Alfred Kouris on Greek migrants in Australia
(primarily a social history with reference
to dietary changes on migration) http://www.angelfire.com/ak/kouris
Last
Updated: August 2002.
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