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Essays on aboriginal unfair treatment
Discrimination from Australians to aboriginals
Discrimination from Australians to aboriginals
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Since 1788, when the white people first came to Australia, Australian Indigenous people have experienced systematically debases Indigenous culture and people. Due to that reason Indigenous people have profound effects on health and emotional wellbeing (Dudgeon 2010, p. 38). As per Parker (2010, p. 5) Diabetes, renal failure, cardiovascular disease, rheumatic heart disease figure prominently in Aboriginal and Torrens state Islander health issues. As mentioned above there are so many factors included social and emotional issues affecting Aboriginal and Torrens state Islander health. The major four factors I would like to discuss here are as follows: 1. Uncontrolled Diabetes 2. Cardiovascular Disease 3. Renal disease 4. Substance Misuse and Related Harms Uncontrolled Diabetes: Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute (2012, p. 2) stated that Australian Aboriginal and Torrens state Islander people are 3 times more likely to suffer from Diabetes as compared to the Non Indigenous Australian. Overweight and obesity are the leading contributing factors to the uncontrolled Diabetes among Indigenous Australian’s. As per Harrison (2012, p. 449) Lack of physical activity, diet and having impaired glucose regulation contribute to the overweight and obesity. Increase in body weight can leads body to the Insulin resistance. In 2008- 2009 diabetes rapidly increasing among Indigenous adults as 37 percent of adults were overweight and 25 percent were obese. Diabetes is a chronic disease which can leads to so many other complications so it is vitally important to control all the contributing factors to prevent it and to promote healthy life style. Diabetes type 1 is more common in younger people between the age of 15-24 and Type 2 Diabetes i... ... middle of paper ... ...ient Education, Patient Education Institute, viewed 15 May 2014, < http://ww2.patient-ducation.com/main.asp?p=aboutus&s=bope&fs=aboutus&mode=FULL>. Stumpers S, Thomson N (2013) Review of kidney disease among Indigenous people, Australian Indigenous Health Info Net Viewed 14 may 2014, . The Association of UK Dieticians 2012, Hypertension, The British Dietician Association, viewed on 10 May 2014, < https://www.bda.uk.com/foodfacts/hypertension.pdf>. Wilkes, E, Gray, D, Saggesr, S, Casey, W & Stearne, A 2010, ‘Substance Misuse and Mental Health among Aboriginal Australian’, in N Purdie, P Dudgeon & R Walker (eds), Working Together: Aboriginal and Torrens Strait Islander Mental Health and Wellbeing Principles and Practice, Commonwealth of Australia, Australia, pp. 117-134.
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.
1) First topic chosen was wellness which is “a conscious, self-directed and evolving process of achieving full potential.” (The National Wellness Institute, para 3) What wellness means to me is being with my family, surrounding myself with your loved ones, or even being with the environment. To Indigenous people it is the exact same with their wellness with each other, or the wellness with their environment. Mental wellness in Indigenous is living a journey along the way being fulfilled in good health. This changed my thoughts because sometimes I don’t always see the good or surround myself in happiness which can create bad health for me.
Wang, Z., Hoy, W. E., & Si, D. (2010). Incidence of type 2 diabetes in aboriginal australians: An 11-year prospective cohort study. BMC Public Health, 10(1), 487-487. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-10-487
Furthermore, over the last 20 years, a number of studies have demonstrated the importance of culture to the health and health care of Aboriginal people. The limited understanding of Aboriginal cultures by some biomedical health care professionals can result in health conditions going unrecognized, or errors occurring in diagnosis and treatment. A study based on a comparative analysis of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal hospital psychiatric admissions in North western Ontario suggested that some Aboriginal people admitted for
Diabetes Mellitus (Type 2 diabetes/adult onset diabetes) is an epidemic in American Indian and Alaska Natives communities.7 AI/AN have the highest morbidity and mortality rates in the United States.7 American Indian/Alaska Native adults are 2.3 more times likely to be diagnosed with Diabetes Mellitus than non-Hispanic Whites.7 More importantly, AI/AN adolescent ages 10-14 are 9 times likely to be diagnosed with Diabetes Mellitus than non-Hispanic Whites.7 Type 2 diabetes is high blood glucose levels due to lack of insulin and/or inability to use it efficiently.8 Type 2 diabetes usually affects older adults; 8 however, the incident rate is rising quicker amongst AI/AN youth than non-Hispanic Whites.7 This is foreshadowing of earlier serious complications that will be effecting the AI/AN communitie...
There are significant health disparities that exist between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians. Being an Indigenous Australian means the person is and identifies as an Indigenous Australian, acknowledges their Indigenous heritage and is accepted as such in the community they live in (Daly, Speedy, & Jackson, 2010). Compared with Non-Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal people die at much younger ages, have more disability and experience a reduced quality of life because of ill health. This difference in health status is why Indigenous Australians health is often described as “Third World health in a First World nation” (Carson, Dunbar, Chenhall, & Bailie, 2007, p.xxi). Aboriginal health care in the present and future should encompass a holistic approach which includes social, emotional, spiritual and cultural wellbeing in order to be culturally suitable to improve Indigenous Health. There are three dimensions of health- physical, social and mental- that all interrelate to determine an individual’s overall health. If one of these dimensions is compromised, it affects how the other two dimensions function, and overall affects an individual’s health status. The social determinants of health are conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age which includes education, economics, social gradient, stress, early life, social inclusion, employment, transport, food, and social supports (Gruis, 2014). The social determinants that are specifically negatively impacting on Indigenous Australians health include poverty, social class, racism, education, employment, country/land and housing (Isaacs, 2014). If these social determinants inequalities are remedied, Indigenous Australians will have the same opportunities as Non-Ind...
Many of the inequalities in the health of the Aboriginal people can be attributed to the
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.
Saman Khan states that “Aboriginal people have a holistic view of mental wellness” (2008) and Khan illustrates that this means “wellness means being in a state of balance with family, community, and the larger environment”. (2008) This means that Aboriginal people in general value family value more than a typical European. Which is the difference of European models of psychiatric care, which is to according to Khan is to remove the person from their surroundings. (2008) If you think about an approach foreign to aboriginal peoples shouldn’t work with aboriginal people who have different values in life. The mistreatment of Aboriginal people is not the only thing that is affecting their health. Aboriginal people live in remote communities that health care cannot be received in time to fight the illness and
Health is a major issue in the Aboriginal society of Australia, Indigenous Australians receive lower levels of healthcare than the mainstream Australian. The life expectancy of the Indigenous male in 2003 was 59.4 years old and the female 64.8 years old, meaning that an Indigenous Australian citizen will live on average for 17 years shorter than a non-indigenous Australian.
“Life expectancy is a measure of how long, on average, a person is expected to live if current mortality rates in every age group remained constant throughout a person’s life and therefore expressed as the number of years of life remaining. The health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians has remained at a disadvantage as compared to non-Indigenous Australians for many years now . Whilst greater awareness in recent times has contributed to an improvement to some extent, many long-standing challenges remain. Many policy makers in the recent past have initiated several policies, programs, funding and initiatives to help close the so called gap.
Center, N. D. (2004, April). Drug Abuse and Mental Illness. Retrieved Febrauary 9, 2011, from Justice.gov: http://www.justice.gov/ndic/pubs7/7343/7343p.pdf
The issue appeared in The Australian newspaper in January 2007 which discussed about the indigenous health. There is no exact statistics that really measure aborigines’ health as only about 72% of them were included in the surveys. The issue is able to make us think on actions that could be made in order to protect the health rights of the indigenous Australian. It seems to be impossible for the responsible authorities to address this problem effectively when there is lack of efficiency in gathering data.
The Closing the Gap strategy reflects a renewed determination arising from the goodwill brought about by the National Apology to Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples; the apology was a formal acknowledgement of the injustice of past government practices and it provided an important foundation for a new relationship between Indigenous and other Australians based on mutual respect and responsibility” (Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing 2013). “To monitor development on social elements and health outcomes for Indigenous Australians a number of reports are prepared regularly. Prime Report is presented to the Australian Parliament each year and reports on progress in Closing the Gap targets (Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing 2013). The regular Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Agenda Report which examines over 50 key data collections related to Indigenous health outcomes, health system performance and social, economic and environmental determinants of health (Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing 2013). The COAG Council provides a comprehensive report each year on progress against the National Indigenous Reform Agreement which includes analysis of progress on Closing the Gap in Indigenous life expectancy, child mortality, early childhood development, education and employment and the Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage framework - against which the Productivity Commission reports on a range of social, economic and health indicators” (Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing 2013).
...erefore, the health care budget for groups like Aboriginals & Torres Strait Islander has been increasing year on year, (Kildea, 2010). The funds allocated towards the health care services of Aboriginals & Torres Strait Islander in the year 2010 have reached over $1 billion. However, it is also to be noted that the higher the funds allocated, the fewer problems faced by the people from Aboriginals & Torres Strait Islander groups. Therefore, numerous financial provisions have been made along with the initiatives that are aimed at bridging the gap between the maternal health care services among Aboriginals & Torres Strait Islander, and other Australian communities, (AIHW, 2011). The role played by administrations and ministers plays an important role in closing the gap, and improving material health care services among Aboriginals & Torres Strait Islander communities.