! PDHPE ASSESSMENT! 2015 YEAR 12! HEALTH PRIORITIES IN ! AUSTRALIA ! 26623685! ! O! utline the nature and extent of the health inequities suffered by this group ! Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders:! Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (ATSI) suffer a range of health inequities revealed through prevalence rates in comparison to non-ATSI people in Australia. The ATSI population are twice as likely to report their health as either ‘fair’ or ‘poor’ and generally have higher rates of health risk factors such as poor nutrition and physical inactivity. Such health inequities suffered by the community include; a lower life expectancy, higher obesity levels and higher infant mortality rates. The nature of these health inequities …show more content…
Due to a lower socioeconomic status it impacts an individual’s level of health education, triggering a lower health literacy resulting in people being less engaged in protective healthy behaviours. The nature of such health inequities include; higher infant mortality rate, more prone to sickness and disease, higher rates of smoking as well as lower levels of health education. The extent of such health inequities is exposed through epidemiological data, which highlights that within this community people aged 15 years and over, living in the most disadvantaged areas, were more likely to be current smokers (30%) compared with those living in the least disadvantaged areas (13%). This leads to such individuals having higher rates of illness, disability and death compared to those more economically advantaged in society as one-third of those living in disadvantaged areas are diagnosed as obese. Furthermore, 24% of people (aged 15 years and over) living in the most disadvantaged areas rated their health as ‘fair’ or ‘poor’, compared with 10% of people living in the least disadvantaged areas. Hence it is evident that there is a health i!nequity amongst the socioeconomically …show more content…
Finally, the environmental determinants would also impact the health inequities due to the inability for ATSI’s to access mainstream medical and specialist care as 24% of the community live in rural and remote areas. The dense concentration of the ATSI community in rural and remote areas leads to having to travel long distances to seek medical care which is a disincentive as they have to leave home, families and community, triggering severe depression/ dislocation. For example, there is a health inequity in access to antenatal care whereby the ATSI community have no access to hospitals as this service is heavily concentrated in urban areas which is a significant contribution to the higher infant mortality rate. Thus, it is clear that these d!eterminants directly lead to such health inequities suffered by the ATSI
People living in areas such as Playford, has shown to have a lower socioeconomic position, which made them at highest risk of poor health (WHO, 2017). Then, the social determinants of health support the understanding the difference between populations health levels, but also the reasons behind why some groups are healthier than others (Marmot, 2005) and the issue becomes a little bit deeper as people living in different areas related to others differently, so then the social stratification of health is affected by differences in gender, marital status, residential areas and ethnicity (Elstad,
Gavin Turrell, B. F. (1999). Socioeconomic Determinants of Health:Towards a National Research Program and a Policy and Intervention Agenda. Brisbane: Queensland University of Technology.
Ever since the foundations of modern Australia were laid; there has been a disparity between the health status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and rest of the Australian community (Australian human rights commission, n.d.). This essay will discuss how this gap can be traced back to the discriminatory policies enacted by governments towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander’s throughout history. Their existing impacts will be examined by considering the social determinants of health. These are the contemporary psycho-social factors which indirectly influence health (Kingsley, Aldous, Townsend, Phillips & Henderson-Wilson, 2009). It will be evaluated how the historic maltreatment of Aboriginal people leads to their existing predicament concerning health.
A deliberation of how using two key concepts, communication and addressing inequalities in healthcare, can achieve care that is person centred within cardiology.
The first factor that has an impact on the health of Indigenous people is their access to health services. Health services include health care provided by general medical practitioners, nurses, and allied health professionals. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (2008), Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have lower level of access to health services compared to other Australians. Distance may be one of the reasons that Indigenous Australian have difficulties to get to the facilities they want. Compared to the general population, the percentage of having medical facilities, including hospital, Aboriginal primary health care and other community health center, located in the discrete indigenous communities was only 7%, while in general population, the percentage was 35% (ABS 2006). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities face many different kinds of transport challenges as well. In 2008, 43% of Indigenous adults lived in an area in which the local transport was not available (HAMAC 2012, p. 99). That affects people’s access to health facilities as well. People may not get the treatment they need when take location and tra...
Health is a large cause of one of the most important social divisions in society, with a divide existing between those whom are healthy and those who are not. Your health largely impacts the quality of life which you can lead, meaning there is those who are healthy and can lead a good quality of life, and those whose quality of life is impaired by illness and the potential illness surrounding their lives. The divisions which create health inequalities affect many aspects of everyday life. Though this division is sometimes just down to pure chance, there are structural factors which mean that those who face ill health often come from particular groups. Gender, ethnicity and class all have an influence on health inequalities. Those from lower social classes are more likely to be unhealthy, work and live in hazardous conditions are have more unhealthy lifestyles including poor diet and smoking. too there are large differences in health between ethnicities, such as the way minorities are alienated by the health system. Gender is too something which can have an impact on health inequalities. Though everyone can feel the effects of ill health, this is something which is more likely to impact certain groups, especially those whom are less privileged. Structural inequalities within in our society mean that class, ethnicity and gender are all large factors in health inequalities.
Generationally, the gap to good physical and mental health within remote Aboriginal communities has declined. The average life expectancy of Aboriginal children in comparison to non Aboriginal
In addition there needs to be an understanding to the relationships towards the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders health and well-being. These include the historical context and legacy which lies within the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders history and the future uncertainty the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders face towards the unresolved issues that have contributed to the decline in health and well-being of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. (Dudgeon et al.)
Australia has the highest differences in life expectancy and infant mortality between non-indigenous and indigenous people compared to New Zealand, Canada and the United States (Pascoe,2008,p.34). Indigenous people have a life expectancy 17 years less than non-indigenous people (Mackean,2009,p.18) and the infant mortality rate for aborigines is three times higher (Pascoe,2008,p.34). It is quite embarrassing that out of countries with similar colonial history, Australia is so far behind. On the slide you can see other upsetting statistics in indigenous health. Whilst indigenous people make up 2.5 percent of the nation (Creative Spirits – Aborignal Health,online,14/8/15) it seems they suffer the most health issues out of the total population. Damian Griffiths the Executive Officer of the First Peoples Disability Network said “The prevalence of disability amongst Indigenous Australians is significantly higher, approximately twice that of the non-Indigenous population.” And that “Disabled aboriginal people are among the most disadvantaged in Australia” These are upsetting but true facts and obviously action is needed. According to Creative Spirits, an indigenous website, 50 percent of indigenous people have some form of disability or long term health condition. It becomes apparent that this percentage would never be a reality for the non-indigenous population as serious action in
A country’s health care system refers to all the institutions, programs, personnel, procedures, and the resources that are used to meet the health needs of its population. Health care systems vary from one country to another, depending on government policies and the health needs of the population. Besides, health care programs are flexible in the sense that they are tailored to meet health needs as they arise. Among the stakeholders in the formulation of a country’s health care system are governments, religious groups, non-governmental organizations, charity organizations, trade/labor unions, and interested individuals (Duckett, 2008). These entities formulate, implement, evaluate, and reform health services according to the needs of the sections of the population they target.
Previously, my definition of health inequalities might only limited in the disability field. However, after finishing this course that totally changed my thoughts. Based on 11 weeks’ lectures, the concept of health inequalities might refer to the differences in the health outcomes or status among ethnic, racial, sexual orientation and social classes (Kawachi et al, 2009, p. 7). For example, this course involves indigenous people health inequality as a topic to show how urgent issue it is, meanwhile, it notices Australian people need to pay more attention on indigenous people. As the lecturer introduced, the reason why there is a large percent indigenous people has health inequalities issues is because several reasons, such as psychological shadow from history of being invaded, social stress from discrimination or excessive intake of alcohol and so on.
Health inequalities in any country is an important issue. There are many reasons for inequalities in health, for example, gender and age, economic and social factors.
I grew up in India, where access to food healthcare was very rare. However, my family and I were very fortunate to have many Doctors in our family. This was the only reason why I was able to get good doctors for monthly checkups, and vaccinations as a kid. There were also shortage of pharmacies, however I personally never had to experience any hardship. That does not mean others had the same. Many people were not as fortunate as I was. People who were poor or lower caste had no proper medications or healthcare. They did not have regular health checkups or proper funds to have three meals a day. Poor people are always the target of many unfortunate situations. “You wont see inequality on a medical chart or a coroner's report under 'cause of death.' You wont see it listed among the top killers in the United States each year. All too often, however, it is social inequality that lurks behind a more immediate cause of death, be it heart disease or diabetes,
There are many dimensions of inequality, which have the greatest impact on health outcomes. These dimensions are class, sex and gender and ethnicity. The health outcomes are different for each country. World Health Organisation defines 'health ' as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease of infirmity" (1948). John Germov (2013, p. 16) wrote a chapter on ‘Imagining Health Problems as Social Issues’ in Second Opinion: An Introduction to Health Sociology, he mentions the ‘social model of health’ where the social determinants of health, which are economic, social and cultural factors, are being looked at closely to how these factors are linked to focus on preventing the illness.
...on, race, and political belief, economic or social condition. Improving the poor health of disadvantaged individuals and reducing health gaps is important but not enough to level up health through socioeconomic groups. The objective of tackling health inequalities can be changed to local needs and priorities of a community allowing wide-ranging partnerships of support to be organised. However it needs to be made clear that what can be done to help improve the life chances and health prospects of individuals living in poverty may not come close to bringing their health prospects closer to the average of the rest of the population or prevent the gap living on throughout the generations. Being clear about what is trying to be overcome and achieved needs upmost importance in the development and delivery of policies that will promote health equality across the population.