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A ‘disability’ is generally defined as a limitation, restriction, impairment, disease ordisorder which limits a person’s ability to perform everyday activities (for example,work, study, self care, mobility and communication) for long periods (that is, atleast six months) (ABS 2004). Rates of disability and chronic disease have beenselected as a headline indicator because they can have a bearing on, and reflect, therelative wellbeing of a population group.Generally, chronic diseases are not caused by infection or passed on by contact.Instead, they develop over long periods of time and are the result of numerous riskfactors acting in combination, such as:• biomedical factors (for example, obesity, high blood pressure and highcholesterol levels)• genetics (for example, genetic makeup and family history)• risk behaviours (for example, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, physicalinactivity and poor diet)• environment (for example, poor living conditions)• psychological factors (for example, neglect, violence and death of familymembers)• socioeconomic factors (for example, poverty, unemployment, low educationalattainment, limited access to social services and discrimination/racism)(AIHW 2006).Adverse socioeconomic and environmental conditions are the likely underlyingcauses of the behavioural factors that contribute to poor health among Indigenouspeople (Carson et al. 2007). A family history of poor health and chronic diseasemay also influence whether an individual has a genetic predisposition to certainlong term health conditions (AIHW 2006). Some successful programs aimed atpreventing the development of chronic diseases among Indigenous people througheducation, primary health care and disease management have been implementedacross Australia. An example of a successful program by the NSW Department ofHealth and a range of collaborators is provided in box 3.2.2.10 OVERCOMINGINDIGENOUSDISADVANTAGE 2007