The Health Inequity Among The Indigenous Australian Patients With End Stage Kidney Disease

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.

Another social determinant of the aboriginal health is the poor compatibility linking the core values of their customary health beliefs and the modern health system. The westernized medical system is mostly interested in the detection and treatment of diseases and illnesses. On the other hand, the traditional aboriginal medication seeks to offer a meaningful justification for illnesses and reacts to the family, personal, and community issues related to the illness (Broome, 2002). This explains why

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

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.

Although the health of some Aboriginal peoples is gradually improving, it is generally still poorer than the health of non-Aboriginal peoples living in Ontario. The Aboriginal Peoples Survey indicates that the most commonly reported chronic health conditions for Aboriginal peoples in Ontario over 15 years of age and living off reserve are: arthritis or rheumatism, high blood pressure, asthma, stomach problems, diabetes, and heart problems. (Noelle Spotton. 2001, page. 20)

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 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

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

Heart and circulatory conditions contribute most to the disease burden of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and are major contributors to the gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and other Australians. Research evidence shows that, as well as having higher rates of cardiac conditions, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have poorer access to health services aimed at preventing and treating cardiac conditions.

Diabetes has become a serious issue in indigenous Australians in Australia. According to the Australian human rights commission (2001), indigenous people were three times more than non- indigenous Australians. Compared with all the population in the world, aboriginal Australians have the fourth highest rate of type 2 diabetes. Around 10% to 30% of them are diagnosed with diabetes and many of them will have the disease in early age (Better Health Channel, 2011). Based on the truths stated above, it shows that diabetes is serious health problems around indigenous Australians that need to be solved eagerly. This report will discuss four parts regarding diabetes among indigenous Australians included impact on the individual, family, population, together with, the implications for the role of nurse dealing with.

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

This case study focuses on the health status of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people. There are different factors that impact their health for example social factors and health problems, in the community some of the people fail to seek medical attention due to difference in beliefs and culture. This has made majority of the people to live undiagnosed illness. In this case after the review of systems of Uncle Jim, he has many problems concerning his health which calls for immediate medical attention but this has been disabled due to poverty and ignorance especially concerning nutrition and effects of smoking which has resulted in many other severe medical problems.

The concern of social issue in this study is the disproportionate burden of chronic kidney disease in Indigenous Australians. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suffer considerably higher rates of chronic kidney disease than the non-Indigenous population in which 11% of those getting treatment for end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) are Indigenous people. On the other hand, the population of Indigenous Australians is only around 3% of the total population in Australia (Anderson, Cunningham, Devitt, & Cass, 2013; Anderson, Devitt, Cunningham, Preece, & Cass, 2008). Therefore, such condition indicates a serious public health problem due to several barriers that affect Indigenous people’s response towards ESKD and its treatments. Living in remote area with poor health facilities creates a constraint for Aboriginal people to receive equitable treatments while renal specialist, renal transplantation and dialysis services tend to be allocated in the urban area (Cass, Cunningham, Snelling, Wang, & Hoy, 2004; Preston-Thomas, Cass, & O 'Rourke, 2007). Patients with ESKD have to attend dialysis treatment three times a week. Hence, Indigenous people who come from a remote area must leave their community to get dialysis medication. Coming from low socio-economic status and education level, Indigenous people also have to face some difficulties to engage with the treatment services. Effective communication between Indigenous people and health providers during the treatment process might

Qualitative research is conducted in a natural setting and attempts to understand a human problem by developing a holistic narrative and reporting detailed views of informants about the culture of a problem. It forms a report with pictures and words. One of the most important distinctions that sets qualitative research apart from more traditional types of research is that qualitative research is holistic in that researchers study phenomena in their entirety rather than narrowing the focus to specific defined variables” (p. 93). Similarly, Cresswell (1984) indicated that qualitative research “is defined as an inquiry process of understanding a social or human problem, based on building a holistic picture, formed with words, reporting detailed views of informants, and conducted in a natural setting” (p. 2). Cresswell’s definition clearly delineates the major characteristics of qualitative research. Pg. 50 (Smith & Davis, 2010).