Barriers To Healthcare In Australia

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heathy (WHO, 2017), also acts as a significant barrier to accessing healthcare, it is interrelated to lack of education and knowledge about the healthcare system. Therefore, contemporary barriers to Aboriginal people accessing healthcare are numerous and proving to be very effective at disadvantaging aboriginal people from access to appropriate healthcare services.

CALD communities face many barriers to healthcare access in Australia today but one of significance is the barrier of language. CALD communities are defined as people born overseas, those who know limited English and those whose patents were born overseas. CALD communities include those that migrate to Australia as highly skilled workers, those coming on family reunification visas …show more content…

CALD communities bring with them diverse cultural beliefs, different ideas about gender roles and differing religious beliefs (Wohler, & Dantas,2017). One example is the stigmatisation of mental health in many cultures, leading to a reluctance to seek help despite an elevated risk of mental health issues particularly for refugees (Colucci, Minas,Szwarc,Guerra, & Paxton,2015). In addition, gender roles can be a barrier to accessing healthcare for example many cultures place a taboo on the discussion of sex and reproductive health, leaving women unable to reach out for information and healthcare without being judged harshly by their community (Ussher, et al., 2017). Another example of culturally differences would be around the care of pregnant women and birth, it is viewed as a medical procedure in Australia while many other cultures view it as a normal part of life and are therefore reluctant to seek medical attention (Owens, Dandy, & Hancock. 2016). CALD communities site a lack of culturally appropriate care as being a major barrier (AIFS, 2008). This is often a result of fundamentally different health care model in Australia when compared to that of their homeland and results in stress for example Sudanese immigrants report concern about the amount of blood taken during tests in Australia as they are worried it might be being sold as is common in Sudan (Henderson, & Kendall, 2010). Thus, culture and the different values and beliefs that come with them are barriers to CALD communities accessing healthcare in Australia

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