Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Essay on aboriginal culture and health
Essay on aboriginal culture and health
Health disparities between aboriginals and non indigenous
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Essay on aboriginal culture and health
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 Darwinism, early attempts of genocide towards Indigenous Australians, segregation and the ‘protection’ legislation, the assimilation policy, self-determination and “the emergence of Indigenous protest” (Psychology and Indigenous Australians, Foundations of Cultural Competence, 2009, pp.84) as well as the limiting factors of being part of a low socioeconomic status group and statistical health differences between Indigenous Australians and non-Indigenous Australians compared to other countries Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations. By encompassing all of these details, we can begin to establish why Aboriginal’s tend to have more health issues and what can be done to improve these health inequities.
When the English settlers arrived on Australian shores in 1776 (The Story of the Australian People, 2010), they didn’t see anything that represented that the land was owned, so they claimed it as their own under ‘terra nullius’ in 1776. “In International Law 'terra nullius' describes territory that n...
... middle of paper ...
...=33
Australian Museum. (2011). Indigenous Australia Timeline - 1901 to 1969. Retrieved May 5, 2012, from http://australianmuseum.net.au/Indigenous-Australia-Timeline-1901-to-1969
Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. (2008). Wave Hill Walk-Off Route more information. Retrieved May 6, 2012, from http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/national/wave-hill/information.html
Australia Bureau of Statistics. (2010). ADULT HEALTH: RISK FACTORS AND SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS. Retrieved May 6, 2012, from http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/lookup/4704.0Chapter750Oct+2010
Australia Bureau of Statistics. . (2010). ACCESS TO HEALTH AND COMMUNITY SERVICES: ACCESS TO HEALTH SERVICES. Retrieved May 6, 2012, from http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/lookup/4704.0Chapter955Oct+2010
Indigenous Health Lecture, Slide 8.
The social determinants of health play an important role regarding the lifestyle and health status of populations, therefore influence on their health (Dahlgren & Whitehead, 1991). In this case, analysing South Australia there are clear indications that the residents from Playford are living in poor conditions which determine their poor health outcomes than the Adelaide Hills which people are placed in a better health
Aboriginal health is majorly determined by several social factors that are related to their cultural beliefs. Health professionals regularly find it difficult to provide health care to aboriginal people due to the cultural disparity that exists between the conventional and aboriginal cultures, predominantly with regard to systems of health belief (Carson, Dunbar, & Chenhall, 2007). The discrepancy between the aboriginal culture and typical Western customs seems to amplify the difficulties experienced in every cross-cultural setting of health service delivery (Selin & Shapiro, 2003). Most of the social determinants of the aboriginal health are due to their strict belief in superstition and divine intervention.
Phillips, A. (2009). Health status differentials across rural and remote Australia. Australian Journal of Rural Health, 17(1), 2-9.
Reynolds, H. (1990). With The White People: The crucial role of Aborigines in the exploration and development of Australia. Australia: Penguin Books
0.8% of the overall Federal health expenditure in 2009 which was spent on Aboriginal health. The overall wellbeing of an individual is more than just being free from disease. It is about their social, emotional, spiritual, physiological as well as the physical prosperity. Indigenous health issues are all around us, but we don’t recognise because it doesn’t affect us, but this issue is a concern to Indigenous Australia and also to modern day Catholics in Australia The statistics relating to Indigenous health is inexcusable, life expectancy is at an all time low, higher hospilatisation for avoidable diseases, alerting rates of deaths from diabetes and kidney disease. This issue is bigger than we all think, for example 13% of Indigenous homes
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have some of the worst health outcomes in comparison to any other indigenous community in the world (AIHW, 2011). According to United Nations official Anand Grover, Aboriginal health conditions are even worse than some Third World countries (Arup & Sharp, 2009), which is astonishing, considering Australia is one of the worlds wealthiest countries. Thoroughly identifying the causes and analysing every aspect behind poor health of indigenous Australians, and Australian health in general, is near impossible due to the complexity and abundant layers of this issue. Even within the category of social determinants, it is hard to distinguish just one factor, due to so many which interrelate and correspond with each other. The aim of this essay is to firstly identify and analyse components of the social determinants of health that impact the wellbeing of Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders, and demonstrate how they overlap with each other. By analysing the inequalities in health of Aboriginal and non-indigenous Australians, positive health interventions will then be addressed. Racism and the consequences it has on Indigenous health and wellbeing will be discussed, followed by an analysis of how and why social class and status is considered a determining factor when studying the health of the Aboriginal population. The issue relating ...
Gard, S. (2000). A history of Australia. The Colony of New South Wales. South Yarra: MacMillan Education Australia Pty Ltd.
Advanced knowledge of Aboriginal Health policy and issues at the level and national level including understanding successful measures around Closing the Gap in Aboriginal Health inequality. My desire to work in the aboriginal field begins since I was very young. That is why at 16 years of my age I started to be even more interested in understanding all the issues related to the aborigines of this country. Over time, I looked that all my knowledge be trained at health level basis to help to improve the Aboriginal quality of life standards.
Poor living conditions are a major health determinant throughout the indigenous population. Most Indigenous Australians are known to live in rural parts of Australia which are commonly not close to major cities and services. People living in these areas generally have poorer health than others living in the cities and other parts of Australia. These individuals do not have as much access to health services and good quality housing. In 2006 roughly 14% of indigenous households in Australia were overcrowded unlike 5% of other households (AIHW, 2009a). Overcrowded and poor quality houses are commonly associated with poor physical and mental health between the people living in them. The indigenous are n...
According to Australian indigenous website, healthinfoNet, in 2010-2012 life expectancy of indigenous people were 69 years which is 11 years less than the 80 years expected for the non- indigenous men and women. Moreover, the life expectancy for native women was 73 years, during 2010-2012, which is 9.5 years less than the expectation of 83 years for non-Indigenous women. The reason for decreased health can be due to deficiencies in water supply, sanitation and lack of proper medical services.
In conclusion the colonisation of Australia and the adoption of discriminatory policies eroded Aboriginal culture and tradition affecting their sense of well-being and thus deteriorated their health. Today these policies are reflected in the social determinants of health as socio-economic disadvantages. They continue to impact contemporary Aboriginal people. In order to improve Aboriginal health outcomes; the impacts of these policies need to be overturned. This can be done by assisting them with improving their socio-economic status in the light of their needs and traditions.
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.
Turrell, G. et al. (2006) Health inequalities in Australia: morbidity, health behaviors, risk factors and health service use. Canberra: Queensland University of Technology and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2006. Retrieved on March 29th, 2011 from http://152.91.62.50/publications/phe/hiamhbrfhsu/hiamhbrfhsu-c00.pdf.
Department of Health South Australia. (2004). Cultural Respect Framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health. Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council. Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Working Party
Cairns Museum, n.d. The War for the land: A Short History" of Aboriginal-European relations in Cairns.. [Online] Available at: http://www.cairnsmuseum.org.au/aboriginal.htm [Accessed 29 March 2014].