Poor Health Conditions In Australia

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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).

Good Morning students and teachers and welcome to the social justice breakfast for 2016, my name is Annabel Miskell and I will be speaking with you about the impact health has had in the reconciliation process between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.

It has been observed that Indigenous Australians face deprivation to a range of services including primary health care, due to various factors such as cultural barrier, environmental factors and racism. As a result, there was increase in the rate of obesity, overweight, chronic diseases and mortality rate. However, Australian governments have introduced programs that increase the availability of services to rural and remote areas but still Indigenous Australian’s health needs urgent consideration. Therefore, it should be prioritized by the Australian government to provide all the primary health care services to indigenous Australians without any discrimination.

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.

“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”

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.

To begin with, a clarification must be made. Although for the purposes of this assessment I will be using the term Indigenous Australians, it is not the most appropriate term to be using, as the technical definition of indigenous is ‘originating or occurring naturally in a particular place; native’ (‘Indigenous’, 1987). The more correct term would be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander.

Australia is considered one of the safest and best countries to live (OECD, 2016). For instance, Australia exhibits higher life expectancies (80.3 years for males and 84.5 years for females), lower mortality rates (5.4 per 1000 live births), high-quality education and health practices and many employment opportunities (ABS, 2015). However, there are wide disparities in life expectancy, mortality rates, heath outcomes, education and employment for indigenous people (Holland, 2014).For example, life expectancy at birth for indigenous population is 10.6 years lower than that of the non-indigenous male population and 9.5 years for females (ABS, 2015). The mortality rate for the indigenous

Australia’s Indigenous population is made up of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, each of whom, have discernible and diverse language, customs and cultures, spanning time immemorial (Reynolds, 2005). Aboriginal Australians maintain symbiotic interrelationships to Country, culture and kin (Sherwood, 2013), engaging in a worldview which holistically connects the wellbeing of individuals to their community and also, to place and the land. This sense of wellbeing includes varying aspects of physical, social, emotional, cultural and spiritual education (Malin & Maidment, 2003); and in determining the propagation of Country, care and sustenance of the land is imperative for maintaining its wellness, in addition to the reciprocity that this wellness provides by return, to the people (Yunupingu, 1997). The encompassing health of individuals, community and Country, is dictated through the education passed down by the Law of The Dreaming and Ancestors, ensuring balance between the aspects of wellbeing (Sherwood, 2013). It is a markedly different framework to that of Western cultures (Reynolds, 2005); and one that was interrupted, maligned and denigrated, by invasion.

The introduction to the western/European way of living, loss of ancestral land, intolerance and the economic disadvantages that Indigenous Australians suffer fuels socially related conditions within their communities such as substance abuse, violence, increased degrees of infectious diseases and chronic diseases etc. culminating in higher mortality rates than non-Indigenous Australians (Duckett & Willcox, 2011, p. 34-35). Stephens, Porter, Nettleton and Willis (2006) state that “infectious disease burden persists for Indigenous communities with high rates of diseases such as tuberculosis, and inequality also exists in the prevalence of chronic disease, including diabetes and heart disease” (p.2022). Statistics show mortality for most age groups of the

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

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

Indigenous Australians have a shorter life expectancy, higher rates of infant mortality, poorer health and lower levels of education and employment than any other ethnic group in 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