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Box 5.3.2(continued)Rates of low birth weight in the region have fallen to the level of the national Australianfigure and are substantially better than those in many other Aboriginal communities.84 per cent of pregnant women have at least five antenatal visits during pregnancy andtwo thirds of all pregnant women have a first antenatal assessment in the firsttrimester. Eighty-three per cent of five year olds, 80 per cent of 10 year olds and66 per cent of 15 year olds participated in child health screening (school based).Immunisation coverage is high with rates well over 90 per cent in most communities.However, although wasting has ceased, rates of anaemia and stunted growth inchildren remain high in the region (Sloman et al. 1999, OATSIH 2001).Ngua Gundi — the Mother/Child Project, QueenslandNgua Gundi — the Mother/Child Project — was funded by the Commonwealth BirthingServices Project to address the serious under utilisation of antenatal services by youngAboriginal mothers in Woorabinda, Queensland.An initial needs analysis indicated that, although there was a lack of local hospitalfacilities, Aboriginal women were reluctant to attend the Rockhampton Hospital forantenatal classes and/or to have their babies. The promotion and support ofbreastfeeding and provision of education and support in relation to infant nutrition areintegrated into the maternal and child health care services. The program has expandedits range of services to include adolescent and older mothers, birthing support and thehealth needs of children 0–5 years. Transport is provided for mothers wanting to attendthe clinic and the midwife will visit mothers in their own homes.There is a high level of acceptance of, and involvement with the program. Trust hasbuilt up between the community and the Aboriginal Health Workers (Dorman 1997;Perkins 1998, Pholeros, Rainow and Torzillo 1993).The analyses in this section are based on data provided by the AIHW NationalPerinatal Statistics Unit. Each jurisdiction has a perinatal data collection in whichmidwives and other staff, using information obtained from mothers and fromhospital or other records, complete notification forms for each birth. Information onIndigenous people based on hospital records is limited by the accuracy with whichIndigenous people are identified in these records (see appendix 3). Not allIndigenous mothers are identified as Indigenous, therefore, not all births toIndigenous mothers are recorded as Indigenous.There are also problems with the reliability of data from jurisdictions with smallnumbers of babies born to Indigenous mothers. Caution needs to be exercised whenexamining data from these jurisdictions. The perinatal statistics do not record anyinformation about the father. Therefore, births in the Indigenous population reportedhere only include those from Indigenous mothers, and do not include births toIndigenous fathers and non-Indigenous mothers. In 2003, 27 per cent of Indigenous5.22 OVERCOMINGINDIGENOUSDISADVANTAGE 2007