Indigenous people in the ACT continue to have appreciably worse health outcomes than non-Indigenous Canberrans, according to a new government report.
The report, which looks at the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the ACT from 2006 to 2011, makes sobering reading.
Across a range of health indicators, Indigenous Canberrans have very poor outcomes.
Almost a third report high or very high levels of psychological distress.
The teenage pregnancy rate is four times the Canberra average and Aboriginal mothers are twice as likely to have low birth weight babies.
Many health risk factors such as smoking and alcohol use have improved, but generally these changes mirror improvements in the wider community.
Disturbingly, some risk factors such as illicit drug use in teenagers have increased over the survey period.