Essay on Indigenous And Aboriginal Health

Social Determinants of Health related to Health of Aboriginal Population

Bringing improvement in the health condition of indigenous and aboriginal population has been considered as a long standing issue for the government of Australia. The different in the health condition amongst aboriginal and non-aboriginal population of Australia has remained unacceptable across the nation since a long duration of time (Gudykunst 2013). It has been considered as a concern of human rights by the committees of United Nations and has been acknowledged in this way by the government of Australia.

The theory of social determinants help in recognizing that health of population and determination of inequality is done by a number of interrelated social factors. In the same way, it is a normal tenet of the law related to human rights that every right is interrelated and that affecting on the freedom of a particular right will influence on the freedom of several others (Hamston & Murdoch 2014). Due to this particular synergy, discourse of human rights help in providing a framework for the analysis of potential impacts on health due to the programs and policies of the government in the aboriginal population.

Several relevant determinants of inequality in aboriginal and indigenous health in Australia involve the absence or scarcity of equal accessibility towards lower level of health infrastructure and primary care of health within the aboriginal and indigenous communities in comparison with other non-aboriginal population of Australia (Hemming 2010). While the fundamentals are based and focused on the improvement of outcomes of indigenous health, these issues will be discussed within the essay.

Trends in the Health of Indigenous population of Australia

The health conditions of the indigenous and aboriginal population of Australia are poor if compared with the other non-indigenous population of Australia. There is a wide inequality distance within Australia, as shown in almost every statistics (Jackson 2012). There is a considerable gap of almost 17 years amongst the life expectancy rate of aboriginal and non-aboriginal population within Australia. For every age group under 65 years old, the death rates specified by age for the aboriginal population of Australia are almost twice in comparison with the non-indigenous population of Australia.

The aboriginal and indigenous population of Australia do not have the accessibility towards an equal opportunity to be equally healthy as the non-aboriginal population of Australia (Pauwels 2011). The related disadvantage of socioeconomics has been experiences by the indigenous and aboriginal population in comparison with the non-aboriginal population results in placing them at higher risk of being exposed to environmental and behavioural health factors at risk. In consideration with this fact, the higher rates of aboriginal households that reside within such conditions do not provide support to good health. The indigenous population also are not able to enjoy equal accessibility towards primary care of health and infrastructure of health. These include effective sewage systems, healthy household, safe drinking water and bad collection services.

The progress rate has been identified to be very low in the reduction of inequality difference amongst the aboriginal and indigenous population of Australia since the past few decades (Pauwels 2010). For an instance, it is involved with the long term measurements like life expectancy rate. While improvements have been made in certain measures for health status of indigenous and aboriginal population of Australia, they have not coped up with the fast gains in health generated amongst the general population of Australia (Brunner 2011). In consideration with the fact, rates of death from cardiovascular infections and diseases within the general population have decreased by 30 per cent since the year 1991, and 70 percent in rates of death from these diseases since certain duration of time.

The structure of young age group within the aboriginal and indigenous population states that the scopes of the problems that the population is currently facing have chances of increasing within future decades (Pride 2010). The rise in the fixed and absolute terms of the size of indigenous and aboriginal population of youth will be requiring significant rise in programs and services basically for matching speed with demand and maintaining the improved status. Yet, this will be done in isolation for the achievement of a reduced level of current inequality in health.

The experience of indigenous and aboriginal population regarding inequality within the status of health is related to the systematic and basic problem of discrimination. In the previous decades, indigenous and aboriginal population of Australia have not received or enjoyed the chance of being as healthy and fit as the non-indigenous population of Australia. This takes place by the problem of not being able to access the mainstream services and having lower accessibility of health services (Reynolds 2014). These include the inappropriate provision related to health infrastructure and primary care of health within certain indigenous and aboriginal population of Australia. These inequalities in health have been considered as being both, systematic and avoidable. This legacy has been addressed completely and is a significant challenge for indigenous and aboriginal population in fully enjoying their rights towards health.

Relationship between Socio-Economic Status and Health Status

On every major indicator, the indigenous population of Australia is known for experiencing several socio-economic disadvantages. According to the National Census conducted in the year 2001, the average gross income of households for the aboriginal and indigenous population in Australia has been identified as $ 364 per week, which is 62 per cent of the non-aboriginal population that is $ 585 per week (Shaw et al. 2011). As per the same census, the rate of unemployment amongst indigenous population had been 20 per cent, which is three times more than the rate obtained for the non-aboriginal population of Australia.

Associations have been demonstrated by a number of researches amongst the economic and social status of individuals and their health condition. Clearly, poverty is related to poor level of health (Trask 2010). Poor level of literacy and education are highly related to the poor status of health, and influence the capacity of individuals for using the information of health. Poor level of income results in the reduction of access towards medicines and services of health care (Cornell 2012). Run-down housing and overcrowded areas are highly related to poverty and result in contributing towards communicable diseases being spread across.

These researches have also described that poorer individuals also face problem of less financial support along with the lack of several other form to control appropriate level of well being. This has resulted in the contribution of a huge burden on the unhealthy stress in which long exposure to the demands of psychology where chances of controlling the event are perceived of being restricted and the possibilities of obtaining any reward are less (Wajnryb 2012). Chronic stress can have a huge influence on the immune system, metabolic functions and circulatory system by a number of hormonal paths and is related to a number of health issues due to circulatory diseases, domestic violence, mental health issues and several other forms of dysfunction with the community.

While the commentators of indigenous population have been highlighting the health benefits related to society and culture regarding accessibility to land and property, many possible impacts of positive health have chances to include improved exercise and diet. It will also be contributing for reconnecting the aboriginal and indigenous population of Australia with their traditional bases of economy (Wilkinson 2010). In consideration with this fact, it can be concluded that providing support to the tradition culture that includes governance structure and customary law, will help in improving the status of health of individuals residing within the remote areas.

Conclusion

Bringing improvement in the health condition of indigenous and aboriginal population has been considered as a long standing issue for the government of Australia. The different in the health condition amongst aboriginal and non-aboriginal population of Australia has remained unacceptable across the nation since a long duration of time. The experience of indigenous and aboriginal population regarding inequality within the status of health is related to the systematic and basic problem of discrimination. In the previous decades, indigenous and aboriginal population of Australia have not received or enjoyed the chance of being as healthy and fit as the non-indigenous population of Australia. Associations have been demonstrated by a number of researches amongst the economic and social status of individuals and their health condition. Clearly, poverty is related to poor level of health. Poor level of literacy and education are highly related to the poor status of health, and influence the capacity of individuals for using the information of health.

References

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