Life Expectancy Of Aboriginal People Essay

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.

60% of aboriginal children are significantly behind non-indigenous Australians by the time they start years one. Only 40% of aboriginal children stay at school through to year twelve. Causes of this include language because English is their second language, inappropriate context; material being taught does not relate to the aboriginals lives. Over crowed house where aboriginal children cannot learn to do homework is a big factor in them being behind in education.

Thus Indigenous Australians have are higher rates of unemployment, homelessness, poor school attendance, poor health, family violence and substance abuse than non-Indigenous Australia (Weatherburn, 2014).

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 racism that goes on around Australia has a very serious impact on Indigenous Australians; this impact is the gap in the life expectancy between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians. Life expectancy for native Australians is in comparison with third world countries with the probability of death being around 20 years lower than other Australians, which has increased since 1997 (Kim 2007). The life of Indigenous Australian 's is short-lived compared to other Australians as 66% of the deaths of native Australians were before the age of 65 (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2011). The life expectancy for non-indigenous Australian 's is 75 for males and 81 for females. The life expectancy for Indigenous Australian 's has been the same since the 1900’s with the life expectancy of males being 56 and females 61 (Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission 2001). The gap in life probability between

There are still many social adversities that statistically Aboriginals are more prone to than whites such as domestic violence and substance abuse. The government aims to help out the Aboriginal community with even more benefits than the white Australian receives such as free medical care and legal services, help with housing requirements and many payment options to help those in need. Despite all this being Aboriginals on average have a lower level of employment to non-indigenous Australians and have a lower level of education. This is slightly similar to South Africa following apartheid although to less of an extent, poverty levels being higher and land still being owned by whites. It is very much similar to that of USA where their black community on average is more so in poverty than their white counterpart, although they are given the same rights and opportunities theoretically the social barriers still

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

The Indigenous youth is one of the many vulnerable populations in Australia this is due to multiple reasons such as a higher risk of poor health outcomes and inadequate care for a number of reasons for example the stolen generation and the government policy as well as the location, Indigenous youth have an increased chance of imprisonment in the past present and future due to not having higher education (not completing year 12), which is illustrated in the Australian bureau of statistics and the (National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey “Aboriginal people are more likely to have been imprisoned if they had not completed Year 12 education, were unemployed, experienced financial stress, lived in crowded conditions, were

The aboriginal are among the indigenous groups of Australia. Together with the Torres Strait Islanders, the Aboriginal people make up a small percentage of today’s Australian population. Oxfam Australia (2015) believes that the two indigenous communities went through over 200 years of dispossession and discrimination that saw them reduce in numbers and marginalized in the remote parts of Australia. In as such, the Aboriginal adopted a secluded lifestyle that seeks to preserve their traditional practices as opposed to embracing the modern Australian life. Consequently, the core services and resources accessible to the majority of non-indigenous Australians continue to be inaccessible to

In 2014, number of Aboriginal and Torres Islander people in Australia was about 713,600 which accounts for 3% of the total population. This number was 63,700 in 2011 and it was found that majority of the indigenous Australians

Durey and Thompson (2012) explain that the act of balancing quality care and organisation efficiency means that minimal resources are allocated to providing and improving appropriate Indigenous health care. Unfortunately, this is a factor in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women avoiding culturally unsafe care and aggravates the vicious cycle that leads to poor maternal and perinatal outcomes (Kruske, Kildea & Barclay, 2006). One of the recommendations made by the ‘Close the Gap’ campaign involves increasing the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health care workers (Kelly et al., 2014). It is thought that doing this will encourage more Indigenous Australians to attend health care services and also promote cultural safety therefore improving health outcomes for the Indigenous population (Kelly et al., 2014; Kildea, Kruske, Barclay & Tracy, 2010). Increasing the number of trained Indigenous health care professionals will require the support of institutions such as universities, health services and organisations responsible for the distribution of scholarship funds (Kelly et al., 2014; Sherwood, 2013; Kildea, Kruske, Barclay & Tracy, 2010). Specifically, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women must be encouraged and supported by universities to gain midwifery degrees