New documentary spotlights 'silent killer' affecting First Nations people
A new documentary called In Contrast has premiered in Sydney and Adelaide, highlighting the gap in kidney transplant rates for First Nations people. Federal government data shows Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults are twice as likely as non-Indigenous adults to have chronic kidney disease, yet 16 per cent of First Nations people receiving kidney replacement therapy had a functioning transplant in 2022, compared with 48 per cent of non-Indigenous Australians. Adelaide public health researcher Kelli Karrikarringka Owen, who has Alport syndrome, said her family's offers to donate organs were refused a decade ago.