Understand Indigenous Health Issues

Thank you for taking time to read my letter. As a nursing student of University of Technology Sydney, I studied contemporary indigenous subject this semester. In this letter I want to illustrate 3 main social determinants of health that impact indigenous Australian health which I found and analysed during my recently study. And also offer some suggestion that could help the government improve aboriginal Australian mental health conditions in the future.

To be a future nurse, it is important to understand the contrast between Indigenous peoples and healthcare. To me this is a very important subject as in todays day Indigenous health is lower than non-Indigenous health. The very first point under healthcare describes that we need to understand that healthcare among Aboriginal peoples in relations to the past Residential school system. Under this system, it is important to understand what kinds of treatment these children were put under. From under nourished to starving children, to cold and uninsulated buildings these children had to fight for their lives. Under this school system, there was overcrowding, which caused many diseases and even deaths. It is important to understand that Indigenous healthcare in Canada is so poor due to previous actions made by the government. Another effect from the Residential school system was that many people that attended these schools or were children or grandchildren of Residential school survivors often suffered from physical, mental and spiritual harm such as tradition or language loss. Number 21 under healthcare of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission calls to action it states that the Federal government must provide funding to support these harms that were caused by Residential schools. I feel like this is a very positive and good approach to help the survivors of Residential schools, because today many Indigenous people deal with things such as depression, criminal actions, and

The social determinants of health are described as the condition of daily living in which determines the individual’s chances of maintaining optimum health (Department of Health and Human Services 2015). In Australia, the health inequality between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians is noted by the World Health Organization (WHO) to have the largest disparity in the world (Markwick et al. 2014). Statistically, the life expectancy for indigenous Australians who are born in 2010-2012 is estimated to be 10.6 years lower when compared to non-indigenous Australians (Markwick et al. 2014). Social determinants such as employment and social exclusion may contribute to the major difference in the health status between the indigenous and non-indigenous Australians (Markwick et al. 2014). This essay will focus on discussing how having employment and social exclusion has led to the health inequalities between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians, and how indigenous healthcare nurses can address these determinants in the care they provide in the indigenous community setting.

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.

The North East LHIN continue to work on advancements in Aboriginal health initiatives that help improve access and coordination for the individuals who live in Northeastern Ontario. The challenges that occurred with the Northeastern Aboriginals were that they experienced lower health status, than the rest of the population that lived in Northeastern Ontario (NE LHIN, 2016). The reconciliation and health care strategy plan was a necessity for the aboriginals in order to improve gaps and duplications of services provided, unused technology due to lack of knowledge and staff and to overall sustain the community (NE LHIN, 2016). In the opportunities strategic direction, the plan's goal was to increase

The health of the Australian Indigenous Population is a significant domain in Australia that represents a myriad of issues that affects the integrity of Indigenous Australians as the traditional owners of the land. On the contrary, these issues challenge the validity of Australia as a nation committed to closing the gap between health outcomes of Indigenous Australians in comparison to non-Indigenous Australians.

With the data presented in this paper, it is clearly demonstrating that the Indigenous Australian continue to experience major disadvantage on health and social-emotional well being outcomes than other Non-Indigenous Australian. The cultural factor and the effects of unfairly social determinants of health are clearly contribute in poor physical and psychological health experienced by numerous Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It is important for both health organisation and individual health professional delivery a culture safety care, help Indigenous people to improve the capacity of the mental health workforce, and working together with them to closing the gap between Indigenous and other Australian population.

I live in Malvern, governed the City of Stonning Council and the Australian geographical postcode of the area is 3144. According to traditional Aboriginal distribution of population map, the traditional custodians of this vicinity are the Boonwurrung people (Clark & Kostanski, 2006). Based on a research report conducted by City of Stonning Council into its indigenous history, it has been found that Boonwurrung traditional boundaries are located around metropolitan areas of Melbourne,south coast and the bay region (Stonnington.vic.gov.au, 2015). The Boon Wurrang Foundation (2015) stated that according to their tradition,the land has always been protected by their creator,Bunjil,who travels as an eagle and by Waarn who travels as a crow and protects

Culture is the shared way of life by a group of people. This includes beliefs, values, ideas, language and communication. Culture influences ones lifestyles, personal identity and their relationship with others both within and without of their culture (O’Donnell & McDougall 2015). These influences on culture as well as the principles of primary health care and the determinants of health play a strong defining factor in determining the way in which people access the Australian Healthcare system. This assignment focuses on the inter-relationships between health care and determinants of health on Aboriginal Australians. Specifically; education, employment status and equity and how these impact one’s access to the health care system. Each of these

Aboriginal Indigenous people are the true owner of this country before the British colonisation, but they also experienced large scale of death and different kinds of sickness like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and some cancers in contrast to non-Indigenous people. As according to (Stewart, J. M et. al, 2012) these disease are generally from smoking, excessive drinking of alcohol, high blood pressure, over weight and cholesterol. Because of this they created an exclusive health centre that focuses on their concerns about their cultural rights and practices.

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

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health inequity occurs across all health areas and many areas of health continue to get worse. Whilst there have been recent gains, the gap is widening as the health of other Australians improves faster. With the gap between aboriginals growing cancer rates has become a major issue among the indigenous community. The crisis facing Indigenous health has a long and complex history. It continues largely as a result of decades of government inaction and a continuing lack of appropriate medical services.

The facts speak for themselves: Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples continue to have much poorer health and much shorter life spans than the population as a whole (Australian journal of rural health, 2002). Indigenous Australians in general are the least healthy of all Indigenous populations within comparable industrialised nation. Indigenous Australians experience nearly twice the rates of chronic disease and hospitalisation compared to non-Indigenous Australians (Green, Minchin 2014). There are many influences that impact their poorer health, some being the ‘social determinants of the health’, which we might define as those non-health indicators of life outcomes which influence an individual’s health status across their

Indigenous cultural perceptions of health and healing are distinctly different from the views of the biomedical approach of the Australian healthcare system (Ramsden, 1996). The factors that influence Indigenous Australian’s health behaviour are poorly understood by the biomedical approach to health care (Waterworth et al., 2015).

The factors contributing to adverse health in the Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander population are most probably the social detreminents of health such as education, income, employment, living conditions, strees, gender, working issues, social behaviour aspects.There are some cultural factors too, they include customs, attitudes, traditions, beliefs. These cultural and social factors alltogether have major influence on Indigenous people's health.