Similarities and differences between Australian Indigenous health compared with Indigenous population in Canada, New Zealand and the United States
Indigenous populations usually represent a statistical minority and share a history of being politically and socially marginalized. This extends into health access and outcomes of these people. Indigenous people in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States also undergo similar challenges including poverty and alienation. This has resulted into social and health differences between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations. In all the four countries, Indigenous populations experience more illness and disability and, have higher mortality and morbidity and poorer health outcomes than their
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The agreement had specific targets and time lines which were incorporated into the policy framework. The specific targets include: closing the gap in life expectancy within a generation; halving the gap in mortality rates for Indigenous children under five years within ten years; ensuring all Indigenous four years olds in remote communities have access to early childhood education within five years; halving the gap for Indigenous students in reading, writing and numeracy within a decade; halving the gap for Indigenous students in year 12 attainment or equivalent attainment rates by 2020; and halving the gap in employment outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians within a decade. The agreement is framed within wider social causes of Indigenous disadvantage. They include; early childhood, schooling, health, economic participation, healthy homes, safe communities, and governance and leadership (Commonwealth of Australia 2009; MacRae et al, …show more content…
Primary Health Care (PHC)
Primary health care involves wider socio-environmental approach to health, which provides multidisciplinary care, supports community empowerment with major focus on prevention, health promotion and inter-sectoral partnerships. Primary healthcare plays a key role in addressing Indigenous health inequality using a cross-sectoral approach (WHO 2008).
PHC has improved health outcomes, helped minimize inequality and control the national healthcare costs in Australia. Primary health care ensures prevention, early detection and a more effective management of chronic illness. This is helping in tackling the increasing cases of chronic diseases among Aboriginal populations leading to reduced burden of disease, increased quality life years and reduced mortality rates. Furthermore, increased allocation of resources to resources to primary healthcare and ensuring better access have offset some of the negative impacts of socioeconomic disadvantage and inequality (Hurley et al. 2010).
Proposals for additional
The health plan has six key priority areas addressing the main issues concerning health in Aboriginal Victorians (Victorian
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
These groups are different to other indigenous groups around the world. Among Aboriginal peoples, there are a numerous amount of similar historical and contemporary social determinants that have shaped the health and well being of individuals, families, communities and nations. However, distinctions in the origin show and give impact on social determinants and impact on health interventions to make sure they are successful.
Aboriginal Health and Health Care The article is about aboriginal health and health disparities or gap between aboriginal and non-aboriginal. The significant key points in the article includes aboriginal are the poorest people in Canada. Aboriginals suffer from higher rates of chronic diseases, have high infant mortality rate, shorter lifespans, and also experience higher rates of domestic violence as well as sexual assault than non-aboriginal people.
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.
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),
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 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.
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
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
Around the globe in countries from Australia and New Zealand to South American and North America there is a disparity in the quality of healthcare and life that indigenous people receive compared to their non-indigenous counterparts (Ring & Brown, 2003). Life expectancy for Aboriginals, the indigenous people of Australia is 19-21 years less than non-indigenous life expectancy; 5-7 years for the Maori population in New Zealand; and 5-7 years less for Native Americans in Canada (Ring and Brown, 2003). In the United States American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) live, on average, 4.2 years less than the rest of the population (Indian Health Disparities, 2015).
Indigenous peoples have occupied Australia for more than 60, 000 years, so why are they among the most disadvantaged in our health system? The right to a ‘standard of living adequate for … health and wellbeing’ was established as a basic human right in Article 25.1 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (The Universal Declaration of Human Rights). However, it is evident that the standard of health for Indigenous Australians is well below non- indigenous Australians with their average life expectancy being around 20 years younger than the rest of Australia. It is evident that the health of indigenous Australians prior to 1967 was drastically influenced by the European settlement and ever since their health has not been at the same standard as non-indigenous Australians despite recent introductions of health programs, reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians cannot be achieved until health standards are equal for both groups.
Here I argue in favour of the Australian government prioritising the improvement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, even if substantial resources are required to do this. This is because: