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

How we define health differs to how Indigenous Australians define health. The World Health Organisation defines health as “not only the absence of infirmity and disease but also a state of physical, mental and social well-being” (WHO, 1946) However, the National Aboriginal Health Strategy Working Party (1989)

This paper will examine the healthcare of Indigenous Australian peoples compared to non-indigenous Australians. The life expectancy gaps between the two are a cause for alarm when statistics show Indigenous Australian peoples die on average 17 years earlier than non-indigenous Australians (Dick 2017). This paper will examine the social determinants of health to explore these factors and what interventions are in place to improve health status and life expectancy gaps for equality. The Federal Government has seen the implementation of the Northern Territory Intervention and the Closing the Gap Initiative. This essay will examine these two strategies and discuss the effectiveness of both policies. It will explain the differences, similarities and look at the success so far to

Marmot, M. (2011). Social determinants and the health of Indigenous Australians. Med J Aust, 194(10),

As stated in an article by the UN addressing health implications for indigenous people it is stated that: “Indigenous peoples’ lack of access to health services for indigenous peoples is a widespread problem in America for many reasons, which include geographical barriers, discrimination, stigma, lack of social and cultural adaptation to indigenous health needs, and a lack of integration of traditional medicine” (2014). Indigenous Peoples’ have many barriers they must overcome first before being able to access the health care amenities, even then they are not guaranteed to have access to these services. Where are we look on the other side of the spectrum which includes Non-Indigenous Peoples’ access to health care is done in a very different way. “Across the country, diabetes is having a devastating impact on Indigenous communities with rates of diabetes three times higher among Indigenous people than among non-Indigenous people”(Aspin, Clive; Brown, Ngiare, Jersey, Tanisha, Yen, Lauran, ).Leeder, Stephen 2). Non-Indigenous Peoples’ have notably better health than Indigenous Peoples’. As stated above the rates for health implications are much higher for the Indigenous peoples’ than it is for the Non-Indigenous peoples. This shows that there must be a gap between how the health services treat Indigenous

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

According to Vass, Mitchell, and Dhurrkay (2011), the incidence of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, renal disease, cardiovascular disease and chronic obstructive airway disease among Indigenous Australians is quite significant. In addition, the presence of mental health conditions and infectious diseases such as scabies, skin infections and rheumatic fever has also attributed considerably to the disease burden (Vass, et al, 2011). As a disability support worker, I had the opportunity to look after indigenous clients. With my experience working with them, it shed some light on me with how they value their culture and gave me an insight on their view about health concerning issues. I had my misconceptions about how aboriginal people

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 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 Assimilation policy (1961) has impacted on Indigenous Australians within their physical and mental state and identity present in today’s society. Australia is commonly considered to be free and fair in their culturally diverse societies, but when the Indigenous population is closer looked into, it is clear that from a social and economical view their health needs are disadvantaged compared to non-Indigenous equals. In relation to this, the present Indigenous health is being impacted by disadvantages of education, employment, income and health status. Even urban Indigenous residents are being affected just as much as those residing in remote and rural areas of Australia.

“We cant close the gap on health unless we talk about nutrition”. The issue of food security can have a negative impact on the wellbeing of individuals and families in Australia, there are a number of different groups who are more vulnerable to food insecurity than others, due to social whereabouts. Food insecurities is defined as “ access by all people at all times to enough food for an active healthy life” by saying this Australia has been shown as food secure but this has people asking “why are certain groups and cultures running out of food to feed there families through out the year, if we are food secure?’ about 5% of Australians suffer from food insecurities this is usually caused by the access they have to food or the inadequate food

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

First Nations people living off reserve are reported to have poorer health in comparison to non-Aboriginal people. Food security security is most commonly understood to exists in household when everyone has access to an ample amount of safe and healthy food. On the other hand, food insecurity results when the quality and quantity of food are compromised, this is usually linked with limited financial resources. First Nations, Metis, and Inuits are more likely to encounter food insecurity than non-Aboriginal groups. It is stated that the smoking rates in the three Aboriginal groups were over two times higher than the non-ABoriginal population. There are reports of high rates of daily smoking and drinking by First Nations, Metis, and Inuits than

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.

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