Health systems are microcosms of the larger society in which they exist. Where there is structural violence or cultural violence in the wider society, there will be evidence of systematic inequalities in the institutions of these societies. The Australian healthcare system is one example, among a plethora of similar healthcare systems, where the color of a patient's skin or the race of their parents can determine the quality of medical care received. Life expectancy and infant mortality rates are very different for non-Aboriginal, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people residing in Australia. In Australia, the life expectancy of Aboriginal men is 21 years less than that of non-Aboriginal men. For women the difference is 19 years. The infant mortality rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander male infants is 6.8% and the infant mortality rate of female infants is 6.7%. For non-Aboriginal infants, infant mortality rates are 1% for male infants and 0.8% for female infants. Additionally, the Aboriginal population is susceptible to a wide range of diseases that do not have relatively high incidence rates among non-Aboriginal Australians. To say that racism is institutional means to refer “to the ways in which racist beliefs or values ​​have been constructed into the operations of social institutions so as to discriminate against, control and oppress various minority groups” (Henry et al, 2004). Institutional racism is an aspect of structural violence, but is by definition limited to structural violence or cultural violence for which race is the catalyst and with racial prejudice or bigotry the sustaining element. Structural violence is differentiated from direct violence both in terms of etiology and nature. D...... half of the article......Australia, PerthMooney, G Collard, K Taylor, T (2003a) Costing cultural security, SPHERe Discussion Paper, Perth, Western Australia: Curtin University, Division of Health Sciences, viewed online 10 September 2011.http://www.eniar.org/news/health7.htmlMooney, G (2003b). Inequalities in Australian healthcare: where do we go from here? Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, Vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 267-270. viewed online 4 September 2011.http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/180_10_170504/hen10112_fm.htmlWakerman J, Tragenza J, Warchivker I (1999) Review of health services in the Kutjungka region of WA. Perth: Office of Aboriginal Health, Health Department of Western Australia Van Krieken, R Smith, P Habibis, D McDonald, K Haralambos, M Holborn, M (2000) Sociology: Themes and Perspectives, 2nd edition, Pearson Education Australia, Frenchs Forest.