Poverty And Indigenous Health

The federal government is responsible for the delivery of primary health care services on-reserve as well as for funding the province for programs and services (Lavoie, 2013). Conversely, the province is responsible for primary health care services off-reserve, as well as hospital and physician services. While these jurisdictional boundaries seem to be clear in theory, in practice, they have been proven to be ambiguous and complex, and at times even self-serving (Lavoie, 2013; Kelly, 2011). This has contributed in an alarming burden of illness among First Nations communities that have economic, political and social implications for all Canadians. A study of these ambiguities and complexities as well as their consequences first requires a scan of the historical policies that have led to the current state of affairs in the healthcare of First Nations people.

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.

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.

It is well studied by health authorities that the current health statistics of the Indigenous population today are clearly reflected on their health status, due to the impacts of the colonisation process. The relating problems associated with this have resulted in destructive families and communities. It is unquestionable that Indigenous Australians were adapted to the environment in which people lived and had control on every feature of their life during the colonisation period. According to ‘The Deplorable State of Aboriginal Ill Health, Chapter 1’ (2014), studies that show that numerous infectious diseases; such as, smallpox and the flu, were not present in the pre-invasion period. It is also shown that lifestyle diseases such as high BP, diabetes and heart diseases were not known to exist.

The determinants have a positive or negative effect on the health of individuals and communities (Dudgeon, 2014). Aboriginal health recognizes that social inequalities are associated with health inequality. For example, lack of education, homelessness and low income are clearly associated with ill health and affect human development. This can contribute to chronic stress which impacts on the body's immune system, circulatory system, and metabolic functions resulting in mental health problems (Baum,

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 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.

Marmot, M. (2011). Social determinants and the health of Indigenous Australians. Med J Aust, 194(10),

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

Colonialism has contributed to multiple issues in the lives of Aboriginal people including inadequate housing and clean resources on Aboriginal reserves. One significant outcome is health problems reserve residents face, including a lower life expectancy and higher mortality rate. “For Aboriginal men on reserve, life expectancy is 67.1 years, while off reserve it’s 72. 1, compared to 76 years for the general population of Canada. For Aboriginal women, it is 73.1, 77.7, and 81.5 respectively” (Frohlich et al. 134). Additionally, more than 50% of off reserve Aboriginal people have at least one chronic condition (Frohlich et al.). Reserves stem from the colonial era, where Aboriginal people were displaced by the government and are a continuous symbol of oppression.

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

During colonization, there was less facility of medication in rural or remote areas, this can be reflected even today. People living in rural or remote areas do not have the facility to travel to get the medical facilities for their treatment. In some remote areas of Australia, health care providers travel around to treat the indigenous people in remote areas.

Access to the communities is provided year round by Wasaya Airline and airstrips that are maintained by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation. Of course, each Aboriginal community is unique with its own set of traditions and ways of healing but my observation after working within the communities for over ten years is that they all suffer from improperished conditions and substandard housing. The local economies are primarily based upon government services (Indian and Northern Affairs) (INAC) and small business. Most of the reserves have six hundred people or less, and each community has a nursing station. The nursing stations are well-maintained functional buildings built in or about the early 1960’s and are maintained by Health Canada. First Nations and Inuit Health (FNIH) maintains responsibility for primary care services in the majority of the northwest Ontario reserve communities. In the north, nurses are the primary care givers working in an extended scope of practice, and client care is centrally coordinated by nurses working within interdisciplinary teams. The majority of the nursing and medical staff working for FNIH in the Sioux Lookout zone are Caucasian and do not come from local communities. This could outwardly appear as a reinforcement of power relations in the racial identities. There is only very limited cultural training given to employees when they are employed by FNIH. Medical advice and

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