Australia, despite being one of the developed nation in the world with high standard of living,

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.

Local Aboriginal community control in health is important as this classifies the Aboriginal entire health. Thus, it allows Aboriginal communities to find out their own relationships, protocols and procedures. NACCHO represents local Aboriginal community control at a national level. By making sure that Aboriginal people have a greater right of entry to valuable health care within Australia. A coordinated holistic response is provided by NACCHO from the community sector. Therefore, it is promoting for culturally respectful and approaches to needs requirement. This shows the improvement in health and wellbeing through ACCHSs with better outcome.

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.

Australian government today recognises that educational policies regarding Aboriginal people cannot be made without considering social and economic policies aimed at improving outcomes for Aboriginal communities in general (TICHR, 2006). Main contemporary issues facing Aboriginal communities are proving land ownership, remoteness, health status, education and employment status and social attitude of Non-Aboriginal population towards the Aboriginal communities (Challenges facing the Indigenous communities today, n.d.). Tackling this issue is not a simple task: the document “National Indigenous Reform Agreement” (2010) which aims to improve outcomes for all Indigenous Australians recognizes that this process needs approach from different aspects, taking into account “seven key building blocks: Early Childhood, Schooling, Health, Economic Participation, Healthy Homes, Safe Communities, and Governance and Leadership” (as cited in DET Queensland,

Critical factors, highlight why things are as they are and if there are possible alternatives (Germov 2011, p.9). Institutionalized racism is a critical reason for the disadvantages indigenous people face that could be expressed implicitly or explicitly (Larson, 2007). The Indigenous population directly experiencing racism through social and political institutions, is critical and a determining factor for their current state (Larson, 2007). Institutional racism is measured through the socio- economic status of certain minorities (Larson, 2017). Although racism is mostly implicit nowadays, it is still overall evident in the social health and wellbeing of Indigenous Australians today (Jackson 1999).The gap between the health statuses of Indigenous Australians as opposed to non-indigenous people are high (Darren, 2007). There is an estimated gap of 17 years between indigenous and non-indigenous life expectancy in Australia (Darren, 2007). This could be due to the absence of equal public health resources in primarily remote areas (Darren, 2007). There is Lack of Access to safe drinking water, effective sewage systems and healthy housing in indigenous neighborhoods (Darren, 2007). This further impacts Indigenous socially as many of them are subjected to poor living standards due to the inability from the government to provide the

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

The colonial occupation and subsequent oppression has a greatly impact to the health of indigenous population across Australia. There is still lapses in regards to biomedical and ethnomedical models of health that still needed to work on in order to provide the quality care that is culturally appropriate and acceptable by the indigenous

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 Australians experiencing social disadvantages, significantly low socio-economic status, dispossession, poverty and powerlessness as a direct result of the institutionalised racism inherent in contemporary Australian society.

C. (2009). Is ‘Close the Gap useful approach to improving the health and wellbeing of Indigenous Australians?. Australian Review of Public Affairs, 9(2), 1-13.

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

I believe that everyone should have equal access to all health services they require, no matter their cultural background, or where they live. When thinking about the poor health outcomes due to the lack of access that Australians, particularly Indigenous Australians, in rural areas it makes me wonder how the health care system can fail to deliver care to those people.

The following report will focus on the health plan Koolin Balit: Victorian Government strategic directions for Aboriginal health 2012-2022 (Koolin Balit). This report will firstly provide an overview of Koolin Balit and will discuss the selected health plan Key Priority Area Two: Healthy Childhood. The at-risks groups pre-school and primary school aged Aboriginal children affected by the priority area will then be discussed. There are three Determinants of Health (DOH) that will be focused on throughout the report, these being education, food (access to and distribution) and access to care and health services (Keleher & MacDougall, 2016). Evidence will be used throughout the report to support the DOH and discuss the relevance of the DOH to Key Priority Area Two: Healthy Childhood.

The ‘Close the Gap’ campaign is a health promotion initiative that focuses on the lifestyle and decisions of indigenous people in Australia as well as explaining how the Australian government needs to focus on closing the gap of poor health between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. Through the ‘Close the Gap’ campaign it advocates the five action areas of the Ottawa Charter, which are of the following:

The social determinants of health are described as the condition of daily living in which determines the individual’s chances of maintaining optimum health (Department of Health and Human Services 2015). In Australia, the health inequality between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians is noted by the World Health Organization (WHO) to have the largest disparity in the world (Markwick et al. 2014). Statistically, the life expectancy for indigenous Australians who are born in 2010-2012 is estimated to be 10.6 years lower when compared to non-indigenous Australians (Markwick et al. 2014). Social determinants such as employment and social exclusion may contribute to the major difference in the health status between the indigenous and non-indigenous Australians (Markwick et al. 2014). This essay will focus on discussing how having employment and social exclusion has led to the health inequalities between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians, and how indigenous healthcare nurses can address these determinants in the care they provide in the indigenous community setting.

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