Culturally appropriate, optimal cancer care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
Cancer is the third leading cause of burden of disease for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. While Australia’s cancer survival rates are among the best in the world, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to experience a different pattern of cancer incidence and significant disparities in cancer outcomes compared with non-Indigenous Australians.
Factors contributing to these disparities include marginalisation and societal lack of understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, disruption of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s ties to land, living in remote areas and racism and unconscious bias, which occurs when individuals make automatic negative judgements about people based on irrelevant characteristics such as race or gender.