Aboriginal Australians And Native Americans Essay

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Social Issues and Government Policies Regarding
Aboriginal Australians and Native Americans

Introduction
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island peoples of Australia face a wide variety of different problems that arose as a result of colonization by Europeans in the late 1700’s. A great many of these problems stem from the government’s systems for addressing the Aboriginal communities. These include health concerns, culture loss issues, lack of self-governance, and symptoms of underlying causes resulting in problems with alcohol. This paper will focus on the issues and policies of government towards Aboriginal communities currently in place in Australia and compare them to those of the Native American populations in the United States and Canada.
Healthcare
Aboriginal Australians
It is widely known across Australia that Aboriginal people have a significantly lower life expectancy than non-Aboriginal Australians. However, a recent study by Phillips et al. (2014) found that the exact degree of difference between the life expectancies of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians is difficult to determine. It was clear from their study that there is no less than eleven years between the two numbers, with potentially as high as twenty years’ difference. Aboriginal people also suffer from much higher infant mortality rates, a greater number and severity of ear infections, and poorer oral health (CITE PHILLIPS AND THE WAACHS DOCUMENT).
The two most well-known attempts to lessen the disparity in health between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians include the Closing the Gap campaign and the Northern Territory Emergency Response. Initiated in 2007, the Closing the Gap campaign seeks to reduce the disadvantage of Aboriginal people...

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... less than the rest of the population. (Devi 2011)
In the United States, Native Americans are the only ethnic group that has its own federal health service. It is the Indian Health Service (IHS), an agency in the Department of Health and Human Services, and was established in 1955. It has an annual budget of US$4 billion and serves 565 recognized tribes. It has hospitals and clinics all across the country, but primarily in Alaska and the western US. In 1975, the government passed the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act. From a healthcare perspective, it established the ability of federal agencies to provide grants to tribes able to set up not-for-profit corporations able to replace the IHS. The grant funding comes mainly from the annual IHS budget. Additionally, uninsured Native Americans can receive state-funded healthcare like all US citizens.

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