The 1999 National Environmental Health Strategy and Closing the Gap: lessons learnt, and hope for the future

In 1999, the National Environmental Health Strategy (NEHS) was published by enHealth. It was intended as a starting point for ensuring all Australians live in safe and healthy environments going into the 21st century.1 The National Environmental Health Strategy lists five key indicators of poor environmental health in Indigenous communities, including respiratory conditions, urinary calculi in Indigenous children, intestinal worms, trachoma and infectious diarrhoeas. The strategy also states that the costs associated with failing to prevent disease through environmental health solutions generally result in a great cost later in life. These costs are not only financial but also cultural. Despite many successes throughout the twenty years since publication, many areas of the section ‘Environmental Health Justice for Indigenous Australians’ have not yet been addressed.