This emphasis on risk factor reduction was also
reflected in the AIHW’s 2001 report ‘The Health and
Welfare of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander People’.26 The report’s overview on the ill
health of indigenous people begins by examining
health risk factors, including poor nutrition, smoking,
alcohol consumption and other substance use,
and follows that with a discussion on mental health,
kidney disease, communicable diseases, cancer and
dental health (p. 67). While it also discusses other
health risk factors, such as ‘poor housing and
inadequate environmental health infrastructure’,
greater priority is given to health risk behaviours