Aboriginal Food Security Issues

As health professionals, we must look beyond individual attributes of Indigenous Australians to gain a greater understanding and a possible explanation of why there are such high rates of ill health issues such as alcoholism, depression, abuse, shorter life expectancy and higher prevalence of diseases including diabetes, heart disease and obesity in our indigenous population. Looking at just the individual aspects and the biomedical health model, we don’t get the context of Aboriginal health. This is why we need to explore in further detail what events could have created such inequities in Aboriginal health. Other details that we should consider are the historical and cultural factors such as, ‘terra nullius’, dispossession and social

The Inequalities Surrounding Australian Indigenous Health Inequality in health is one of the most controversial topics within Australian Health Care. Inequality in relation to health is defined as being “differences in health status or in the distribution of health determinants between different population groups” (World Health Organization, 2012). Within Australia inequality affects a wide range of population groups; however Indigenous Australians are most widely affected therefore this paper will focus on how inequality has impacted their health. Research shows that Australia’s Indigenous people suffer from a multitude of social and economic inequalities such as inadequate access to nutritious food and health care, being socially and

As health professionals, we must look beyond individual attributes of Indigenous Australians to gain a greater understanding and a possible explanation of why there are such high rates of ill health issues such as alcoholism, depression, abuse, shorter life expectancy and higher prevalence of diseases including diabetes, heart disease and obesity in our indigenous population. Looking at just the individual aspects and the biomedical health model, we don’t get the context of Aboriginal health. This is why we need to explore in further detail what events could have created such inequities in Aboriginal health. Other details that we should consider are the historical and cultural factors such as, ‘terra nullius’, dispossession and social

Health Aboriginal health standards are so low today that all most half aboriginal men and a third of the women die before they are 45. Aboriginal people can expect to live 20 years less than non-indigenous Australians. Aboriginals generally suffer from more health problem and are more likely to suffer from diabetes, liver disease and glaucoma. The causes of their poor health and low life expectancy are poverty, poor nutrition, poor housing, dispossession of their traditional land, low education level, high unemployment, drug and substance use, unsafe sex, limited health care and diseases.

It is well studied by health authorities that the current health statistics of the Indigenous population today are clearly reflected on their health status, due to the impacts of the colonisation process. The relating problems associated with this have resulted in destructive families and communities. It is unquestionable that Indigenous Australians were adapted to the environment in which people lived and had control on every feature of their life during the colonisation period. According to ‘The Deplorable State of Aboriginal Ill Health, Chapter 1’ (2014), studies that show that numerous infectious diseases; such as, smallpox and the flu, were not present in the pre-invasion period. It is also shown that lifestyle diseases such as high BP, diabetes and heart diseases were not known to exist.

“The status of Indigenous health in contemporary Australia is a result of historic factors as well as contemporary socio-economic issues” (Hampton & Toombs, 2013, p. 1). The poor health position of Indigenous Australians is a contemporary reflection of their historical treatment as Australia’s traditional owners. This treatment has led to Indigenous

Health Care Accessibility a Challenge for Aboriginal People The health of Aboriginal people in Canada is both a tragedy and a crisis (Aboriginal Affairs and North Development Canada, 2010). Aboriginals have a higher rate of death among aboriginal babies, twice the national average, higher rate of Infectious diseases example gastrointestinal infections to tuberculosis, and chronic and degenerative diseases such as cancer and heart disease are affecting more aboriginal people than they once did (AANDC, 2010). Availability of important medical facility is not enough to accommodate the growing medical needs of Aboriginals. A socioeconomic and cultural issue also hinders the access of aboriginals to access health care in the community.

OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) 2016. OECD Health Statistics 2016. Paris: OECD Marmot, M. (2011). Social determinants and the health of Indigenous Australians. Med J Aust, 194(10),

SOUTHERN CROSS UNIVERSITY ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET Student: Anushia Bentley Student ID No.: 22413376 Unit Name: Health and Indigenous Australian Peoples Unit Code: CUL0048-2016-2 Tutor’s name: Liz Rix Assignment No.: 3 Assignment Title: Bentley Anushia 22413376 assignment 3 Essay Due date: 15th September 2016 (extension approved) Declaration: I have read and understand the Rules Relating to Awards (Rule 3 Section 18 – Academic Misconduct Including Plagiarism) as contained in the

As a people, our rate of chronic disease is still 2.5 times higher than that of other Australians, and Indigenous people in this country die 15 to 20 years younger than those in mainstream Australia. More than half of

Themes The main theme or issue evident in the article is that many indigenous communities are not equipped with the resources that support a healthy lifestyle. In Ontario many of the Indigenous communities are located in remote areas, which are typically limited to good health care, grocery stores or food banks. When grocery stores are available, the cost of the food items is a lot pricier than those of the urban environments.

The stolen generation is the term now used to highlight this time in Australian history (Heard, Khoo & Birrell 2009). Contemporary health issues of today  The inequalities in today’s indigenous communities are still strongly evident. Heard, Khoo & Birrell (2009), argued that while there has been an attempt in narrowing the gap between Indigenous and non Indigenous Australians, a barrier still exists in appropriate health care reaching indigenous people. The Indigenous people believe, health is more than the individual, it is

The Canadian health system aims to provide equal health for all and although in recent years, general healthcare services to Aboriginal peoples have improved, Aboriginal peoples still experience poorer health outcomes than non-Aboriginal Canadians (Kowpak & Gillis, 2015). The health challenges faced by Canadian Aboriginal peoples are unique and complex (Richardson, Driedger, Pizzi, Wu, & Moghadas, 2012), especially as an outsider therefore the need to understand Aboriginal health from their perspective. Hence, in community and population health profession, knowledge of Aboriginal health increases the understanding of the underlying causes of health disparity and poor health among Aboriginal peoples. Aboriginal health knowledge is beneficial

Introduction: The health status of Indigenous Australians today remains far below that of the general population, with a considerable gap in life expectancy of almost 11 years between the two.1 Even in non-remote regions, elderly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are 50% more likely than a similar bracket of the general Australian population, to have a disability or a long-term health condition.1 Communication difficulties due to cultural and linguistic differences between non-indigenous health care providers and the indigenous patients have often been cited as a major barrier to providing better and more effective health-care services. Henceforth, there must be strong communication between the patient and medical practitioner for

For thousands of years Indigenous peoples have been the guardians of our environment and its medicines. Their knowledge has been built on a holistic communal view of humanity, society, health and its links to the ecosystem. Sadly enough widely reported evidence shows that they are among the most marginalised and disadvantaged people within many nations. Often their environment was destroyed, land appropriated and they have the worst health indicators(1). The World Health Organisation argues that their crisis situation is: ‘most clearly reflected in the health status of indigenous peoples around the world, with disparities between the health status of indigenous peoples and non-indigenous peoples within the same country’(2). This accounts