With the population of about 23 million, Australia stands as one of the most developed nations in the world. While a major proportion of the Australians are non-natives, Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders accounts for a much smaller proportion. According to Australian Bureau of Statics, they accounted for 729,048 in 2015. There are 32% of indigenous people living in major cities, 43% in regional areas and 25% in remote areas according to Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Although this is their native place, indigenous people still face social disadvantages, poor socioeconomic status, education, employment which leads to high rate of mortality and morbidity. 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. Australia is one of the healthiest countries in the world. With the remarkable availability of best facilities in the world in …show more content…
According to the Australian Census, 29% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people reported year 10 as their highest year of school completion and 25% had completed year 12 as compared to 52% of non-Indigenous people. 26% of indigenous people reported having a post-school qualification, compared with 49% of non-Indigenous people. 4.6% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had attained a bachelor degree or higher, compared with 20% of non-Indigenous
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.
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.
Since colonialism after the invasion, Australia indigenous peoples have experienced a great deal of loss of identity, loss, disempowerment, cultural alienation, grief. Many indigenous people's mental and physical health impaired. Suicide, family violence, drug abuse and unemployment rates is higher than the Australian average(Berry et al. 2012). That is complicated to contributing to develop and support sustainable mental health and social wellbeing for Australian aboriginals staying in rural areas ,related to much diversity involved in and between individuals and communities (Guerin & Guerin 2012).
The purpose of this paper is to articulate an Indigenous health and wellness concern such as youth education and how to affects Indigenous populations. Youth education has been a prominent social determinant of health with many people who are from Indigenous backgrounds. Children are moulded into their own beings at a young age and having an influential education from the start is key to a successful person and living a fulfilled life. The reason I have chosen this topic is because it became of great interest to me how Indigenous education is not prominently looked upon.
among Aboriginal Australian’, in N Purdie, P Dudgeon & R Walker (eds), Working Together: Aboriginal
Material and non-material poverty are vital factors in understanding the extent that Indigenous Australians face poverty. Material poverty refers to the deprivation of basic human needs (Taylor, 1993). Whereas, non-material poverty consists of components of deprivation not directly caused by lack of income, but include factors such as lack of family support (Taylor, 1993). In an article by Choo (1990) it emphasises that Indigenous communities suffer immensely from non-material factors of poverty, including the loss of children through their removal, and the loss of dignity and self-respect through oppression over the years. It was also stated that material poverty was also substantial in communities this includes both income poverty and non- income indicators of poverty such as housing and health. It is important to have an understanding of the full extent of the issue to fully comprehend the discussion.
History continues to impact Aboriginal / Torres Strait islander people today. There has been some improvements over the years but not enough when compared to other Australians. They have the highest growth rate, birth rate, death rate, the worst health and housing and the lowest educational, occupational, economic, social & legal status of any identifiable section of the Australian
To answer this question, one must first look at how they were forced to the bottom of the ladder. Next, some of the recent changes that have occurred in government policy and social acceptance will be looked at. Finally, education and health care as faced by the Aboriginals in their lives daily will be discussed.
Their likelihood of dying from kidney disease is more than fifteen times that of non-indigenous Australians. (Kidney disease among Aboriginal people, 2013)
The discrimination that the indigenous group in Australia faces has detrimental effects on its young population. “The latest statistics show that our 15-24 year olds are dying by suicide at four times the non-Indigenous rate; and our 1-14 year olds at nine times the non-indigenous rate.” The high suicide rates in young Aboriginal people shows that there is a serious problem happening with the Aboriginal population and that it needs to be addressed. Suicide rates among the young Maori population in New Zealand is much less prevalent. Perhaps if there was a better sense of community in Australia between the white population and the Aboriginal people, suicide rates would
At the 2001 Census, there were an estimated 458,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in Australia, comprising 2.4% of the total Australian population. It is estimated that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population will grow to more than 550,000 people by 2011 (Hunter, 2003).
Topic 3: "Outline the social determinants of health in Australia and provide a critical analysis of these determinants. Discuss the current health status comparisons between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians and interventions to remedy these inequalities.”
Immigration is an important feature of Australian society. Since 1945, over six million people from 200 countries have come to Australia as new settlers. Migrants have made a major contribution to shaping modern Australia. People born overseas make up almost one quarter of the total population. About its ethics distribution, aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people totaled 410 003 at the last census, nearly 2.2 per cent of the population. Two thirds of the indigenous people live in towns and cities. Many others live in rural and remote areas, and some still have a broadly traditional way of life.(Ning)
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.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is one of the main causes of deaths in Australia, making it a national priority. In Australia, CVD causes around 50,000 deaths per year (Baker Heart & Diabetes Institute, 2013). Aboriginal and Torrens Strait Islander people and those living in the remote areas of Australia are expected to be hospitalised or die from CVD than other people of the Australian population (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2010) The impact of CVD on Australian population and modifiable and non-modifiable factors that will be discussed are sociocultural, socioeconomic and the environmental determinants of CVD. These determinants include gender, family/genetic inheritance, income/employment, eating habits, lifestyle, health literacy, location