Essay On Aboriginal Health

For the last 200 years Indigenous people have been victims of discrimination, prejudice and disadvantage. Poor education, poor living conditions and general poverty are still overwhelming issues for a large percentage of our people and we remain ‘as a group, the most poverty stricken sector of the working class’ in Australia (Cuthoys 1983).

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.

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.

Among Aboriginal peoples, there are a number of similar historical and contemporary social determinants that have shaped the health and well-being of individuals, families, communities and nations. Historically, the ancestors of all three Aboriginal groups underwent colonisation and the imposition of colonial institutions, systems, as well as lifestyle disruption. However, distinctions in the origin, form and impact of those social determinants, as well as the distinct peoples involved, must also be considered if health interventions are to be successful. For example, while the mechanisms and impact of colonisation as well as historic and neo-colonialism are similar among all Aboriginal groups. The contemporary outcome of the colonial process

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)

A lot of aboriginal students are now graduating high school in the past few years. But, now they seem to rank lower in education, higher rates of unemployment, along with higher rates of smoking, alcohol and drug abuse, which can lead to needing a lot more health care than the average person. (Dr. Chandrakant P. Shah. 2005, page.3)

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.

Further, low income, unemployment, racism, lack of education further deteriorate their quality-of-life and well-being (Carson, Dunbar, Chenhall, & Bailie, 2007). Therefore “closing the gap” on indigenous disadvantage is crucial for archive equality in life expectancy, health status, education and employment between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians (Black & Richards, 2009).

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

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 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

It is common knowledge that there is a life expectancy gap when comparing the life span of Aboriginal people and other Australians, so much so that the gap is known to be at least ten years. A definition if Indigenous mental health which is culturally accepted is known as social and emotion wellbeing, which includes mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, community, family, cultural and country wellbeing. An unbalance to this can often cause traumas which can be life changing and devastating to communities. It is known that Aboriginal Australians due to consequences of their exposure to traumatic events are one of the most traumatised people in the world with these events being felt throughout generations resulting in poor psychosocial health

Colonialism in Australia places a detrimental threat to the health of Indigenous Australians. Inherent in colonialism were scientific racisms, institutional racism and structural violence. These factors continues to persist in the fabric of Australian society today and limits the life chances of Indigenous Australians. This essay illuminates colonialism as a major contributor to the social marginalisation and low socioeconomic status experienced by indigenous Australian. An analysis of Aboriginal infant mortality rate, a health indicator highlights the difference between biomedical and sociological approach and the embedded negative impact of social marginalisation and low socioeconomic status on the health of Indigenous Australians. The

The Aboriginals also known as the Indigenous people are the first people’s inhabitants of mainland Australia (WIKIPEDIA). Historically, Aboriginals enjoyed better health before any invasions from non-Indigenous peoples. They didn’t suffer from any major illnesses though they did have other type of health issues, but their life was happier and content. Everything started to change after 1788 when non-Indigenous people introduced illnesses where the mortality rate of Aboriginals population started to increase, and this affected their life and the community (http://www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/health-facts/overviews/the-context-of-indigenous-health). There are various factors that contribute to the poor health status of Indigenous people, and this is part of the social determinants of health which should been seen in a broader context (1)(2). Factors such as employment, income, stress, gender, education, behavioral aspects, working and living conditions, social networks and support, are interrelated and complex, and are part of the social

There is an obvious disadvantage towards Indigenous individuals living in Australia. This is a highly prevalent issue facing modern Australia, and to be fully understood it is important to incorporate sociological perspectives. Sociology begins with individuals’ experiences in order to explore the collective themes and patterns of human behaviour that shape our society and the distribution of health within it (Willis, 1993). The application of the sociological imagination, including cultural, historical, social and structural factors assist in forming our understanding on the disadvantage of Indigenous Australians, especially surrounding concepts of Aboriginal health and Illness. The ‘sociological imagination’ asserts that people do not exist in isolation but within a larger social network (Willis,