Indigenous Health In Early Childhood Education

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.

“Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people have a greater amount of disadvantage and significantly more health problems than the non-Aboriginal & Torres strait Islander population in 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,

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)

I learned that Aboriginal seniors in Canada have more health care concerns than non-Aboriginal seniors and their needs are not well understood and were taken for granted by health care providers. I can apply in my nursing practice what I have learned from this topic that I will respect and acknowledge their culture and way of life. In addition to that, I will keep in mind that Aboriginal seniors needs more intensive support than non-aboriginal because of what they experienced at the reserved and residential schools. I want to learn more about their traditional practices

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 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 Indigenous culture was viewed as inferior and unable to adequately provide for the needs of their children, which was fully fuelled by disproportionate poverty rates as well as the repercussion of residential schools (Russell, 2015). Due to not being able to maintain the standards of European child-rearing practices and common values, social services workers attempted to rescue these children from the conditions they were living in (O’Connor, 2010). These issues have detrimental effects on the families of survivors of the residential schools for generations, also known as multigenerational trauma. Instead of addressing this social policy concern the government was contributing and controlling it, where Indigenous people had little power to address

Carson, B., Dunbar, T., Chenhall, R. D., & Bailie, R. (2007). Social determinants of Indigenous health. Allen & Unwin.

Nguyen (2011) notes, “local evaluations, parents, kindergarten, and community members report significant gains in all areas of children’s development, improved family relationships and the development of parenting skill” for children attending Aboriginal Head Start early childhood education programs. Likewise, the long-term outcomes predicted by Preston et al. (2011) explained the potential for economical, social and political change for Aboriginal people. Furthermore, Preston et al. (2011) confirmed that Aboriginal managed programs like Head Start lead to higher enrollment and retention rates as well as over all satisfaction for children and families. This evidence shows that culturally responsive education is a key factor in creating a better future for Aboriginal

What might explain these statistics, or at least serve as correlations, are the determinants of health. If the reader is not familiar with the determinants of health, the World Health Organisation (WHO) provides an explanation of them. In essence, these health determinants are factors that have significant impact upon one’s health. The main determinants for health are: socioeconomic status, where the rich and upper classes tend to be healthier; education, where low education is linked to stress, lower self-esteem and poorer health choices; environment, where purer air, cleaner water, healthier workplaces and better housing contribute to being healthier; health services, where access to services and proper equipment all contribute to health; as well as gender, genetics, culture and social behaviour (WHO, 2016). As there are so health determinants, where essays can be written on one alone, it is not within the scope of this essay to critically analyse each determinant for Indigenous Australians. With this in mind, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2014) documents an extensive list of data for Indigenous health, most of which discusses issues which are out-of-scope for this analysis. What is relevant, however, is outlined next. Across the board, in 2011, the Indigenous population was younger than the non-Indigenous population due to high fertility and mortality rates with those

     Many of the inequalities in the health of the Aboriginal people can be attributed to the

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

As an Indigenous Education Advisor, I’ve witnessed a shift in the commitment to educate non-Indigenous students about First Nation, Métis and Inuit people in post-secondary institutions. My experience in developing an Indigenous Awareness Week and conducting assessments to measure the learning outcomes of non-Indigenous students has led me to want to do research in this area. I would like to further look at long-term effects of Indigenous programming for non-Indigenous students to determine how to develop effective and valuable Indigenous programming in higher education. What attracts me to the Department of Integrated Studies in Education are the positive experiences and interactions I’ve had with students and professors from the department. Both Dr. Claudia Mitchell’s and Dr. Naomi Nichols’s research appeals to me and I believe can give a unique perspective to my work.

Infant and child mortality among Indigenous peoples have increased systematically despite the decline in infant mortality rate in many regions. For example, in Latin America, infant mortality among indigenous children is 60 percent greater than for non-indigenous children (48 per one thousand births compared to 30 per one thousand, respectively), ranging from 1.11 times higher in Chile to 3.09 times higher than the general population in Panama. Specific studies have documented that children from the Campa Ashaninka and Machiguenda in Peru, the Wayu of Venezuela, the Tzotzil of Mexico, and the Xavante in Brazil have a higher risk of death before reaching one year of age than non indigenous children (Support et al., 2014).