Bloodstream infection rates in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in Central Australia, 2014–2018

Bloodstream infection rates are an indirect measure of social disadvantage and population health.¹ Rates of chronic disease and harmful alcohol consumption are higher among socio-economically disadvantaged people, who often live in overcrowded houses with poor sanitation; all these factors are recognised risk factors for bloodstream infections.² Thirty-four percent of the disparity in health outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians is attributed to high levels of unemployment, lower educational attainment and household income, and inadequate housing, and a further 19% to health risk factors, including alcohol consumption and smoking.³