Australia is one of the diverse countries in the world with over one hundred and twenty ethnic groups and three percent indigenous populations. The indigenous communities in the county are made up of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island who make a very small portion of the population. The history of these two populations in the country can be traced with a lot of literature documented on the injustices suffered and other indigenous related challenges that have made life difficult for this population. The rights of the population have been violated while at the same time the group has suffered political and culturally challenges due to failure to address diversity issues that the country exists on (Davy, Harfield, McArthur, Munn, & Brown, 2016). This population has been disadvantaged to the extent that statistically, they have poor health, educational opportunities, low life expectancy and poor employment opportunities which have made them develop negative social attitudes.
The biggest challenge that indigenous groups in Australia have faced is the lack of political goodwill to address the problems they face. Wahlquist (2017) suggests that successive Australian governments have failed to achieve meaningful change to the indigenous people because there is a lack of political goodwill. Despite the group having lived in their land for all the time that they existed in the country. Coffin (2007) suggests that an ancestral land ownership court dispute took thirty years to prove that indeed the land was theirs. Scholars have argued that the all the government needed to do was to issue a directive which will have been a gesture of goodwill. Policy reforms in the federal reform have been taking place with the country ratifying to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2009 as a way of presenting the relationship between the population and the government. Despite this achievement, the group remains vulnerable because the country has not implemented all UN recommendations. One issue that has been pointed out in research is the fact that successive governments have ignored indigenous matters presented by former governments thus frustrating these efforts.
One social endurance that indigenous people have faced is poor health status and the highest mortality rates. The population has suffered dramatically since 1788 after the European introduction of disease to Australia (Durey & Thompson, 2012). Despite having the same access to health today, remoteness, lack of trust in the medical system and negative social attitudes developed by the population hamper their access to health. This challenge has killed the life expectancy to less than ten years as compared to the rest of the population due to lifestyle diseases like diabetes and heart diseases.
Further Jie-Li (2017), suggests that remoteness creates many challenges beyond health like access to services like education. Lack of education denies them access to opportunities like employment which is one of the social determinants of health. Education access is hampered by retention rates and high rates of absence that the populations face. This creates cultural barriers that limit availability and access to social amenities which are important in improving the well-being of the people. The barriers also lead to miscommunication between parties thus leading to unsatisfactory outcomes in service delivery.
Further, racism is one of the social challenges that this population has suffered in the country. According to research one in every five Australians have experienced racism while two-thirds of the indigenous population have reported being called names or treated with lack of respect. In Australia, this concept can be traced from a historical and contemporary perspective that the population suffers. When racism and prejudice become too much, the population develops social attitudes that hinder the relationship between different community groups. This arises as a result of imbalances that exist between the indigenous group and the rest of the population which leads to discrimination and stereotyping (Morelli, 2017). The personal experiences that people have led to health problems like blood pressure, anxiety, and depression. This further leads to employment and housing challenges which in turn affect the overall well-being of the population.
In addition to that, the indigenous population in the country has endured high mortality rates in the country. According to the Australian Human Rights Commission (2017), the gap between the indigenous people that live and the number that should be alive is one indicator of the challenges that the population suffers. There is a huge gap when looking at the people alive, healthy and socially functional as compared to other populations in the country. This makes indigenous health an abuse of human rights since strategies have not been put in place to reduce mortality rates. The fact that the government cannot solve the health crisis facing three percent of the population is an indicator of future healthcare challenges that the population will still face. Conway, Tsourtos, & Lawn (2017) adds that such challenges can be easily addressed since Australia is a wealthy country with enough resources for taking care of the population. This is because the challenges endured by the population relate to systemic discrimination that the population has suffered.
Indigenous people have been characterized as having difficulty accessing appropriate mainstream care services that require just easy reach. One major obstacle that the population faces is high levels of pervert that hamper their ability to access such services. From a social determinant of health perspective, income is a major determinant of health since it increases access to care services through transportation and affordability of the cost (Loignon et al., 2015). Further, poverty leads to lack of access to basic communication infrastructure within these communities that can boost access to healthcare guidance and advice. Davy, Harfield, McArthur, Munn, & Brown (2016) argue that when seeking to understand the disparities that people face, access is a major factor that determines their ability to attain better care. This has been reported in cases where women in rural areas have experienced higher hospitalization rates due to late presentation of medical challenges that they face. According to the Australian Government Department of Health (2017) the economic conditions that poor indigenous people live in force them to operate in environments that make them sick, with extreme hunger which leaves them vulnerable to diseases. Since most indigenous people live in remote areas, lack enough education and have limited access to job opportunities, then their income levels are low which limits their ability to access and afford better care services. This is seen in Australia where most Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have lower levels of Medicare and Pharmaceutical benefits.
Inequality between groups also leads to greater obstacles in accessing care. Nunes, Thume, Tomasi, Duro, & Facchini (2014) suggests that high inequality levels reduce social cohesion between populations which leads to stress, fear, and insecurity. This is further accelerated by the lack of commitment by the government to put the recommendations that have been proposed in place. Freeman, et al. (2016) report that Australia, unlike other colonial nations, lags behind in the achievement of indigenous health equity. The health status of indigenous people is poor in comparison to the rest of the population since they lack equal access to be as healthy as the rest of the population due to behavioral and environmental health risks. Moreover, the population lacks access to primary healthcare infrastructure that others access. This is seen in the lack of targets for the achievement of health inequality and strategies that have been put in place to address Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health. This is because the population suffers unique healthcare challenges that cannot be compared to other populations.
Another obstacle that the population faces in access to health care is the lack of awareness of the healthcare challenges that they face and the existing services. The fact that the population mostly lives in remote areas where they have challenges in accessing care services (Hayman, 2010). One challenge is that they do not understand where the services are and how to access them. Research has shown that most indigenous population have low levels of awareness of the health challenges that they face and how they can address them (Freeman, et al., 2014). Awareness of the disease and symptoms that one faces increasing early detection thus improving response. However, the indigenous population is mostly not aware of the healthcare challenges that they face thus making it difficult for them to seek medical care. Further, awareness creates opportunities for health seeking behavior which makes the individual understand the care requirements.
Cultural needs of the indigenous populations also present barriers to access of care services in the country. In Australia, the population is still holding onto their cultural beliefs which require the need to recognize them (Artuso, Cargo, Brown, & Daniel, 2013). For example, there is a lack of services in their local languages and at the same time lack of indigenous female doctors who will provide services directly to their people. (Reibel, Morrison, Griffin, Chaman, & Woods, 2015)Due to stigma and stereotyping, these people feel embarrassed to seek certain care services from other races. The healthcare system has not been tailored to meet the needs of the population since they require some of the services to be tailored according to their cultural requirements. Indigenous populations and underdeveloped ones are more reserved to cultural aspects as compared to other populations in the country. This makes it difficult for the population to access the health benefits.
One opportunity for available access to needed services is the pressure that the government is receiving to close the gap of inequality in the population. It is evident that the government has been trying to address health issues that revolve around the population (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2018). Despite the fact that the government has not yet succeeded in closing the gap, there are signs that the government is committed to addressing inequalities in healthcare. This approach is seen in the framework developed to improve performance and accountability in health.
Political goodwill of the Australian government has also been improving since it has shown commitment to improving the lives of the indigenous community. This is seen in the addressing of the issues raised in the United Nations Declaration on the Right of Indigenous Peoples. This is a strength-based approach focusing on improving the health, social and emotional wellbeing of the population.
Another opportunity for accessing cares services is the implementation of National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Health Plan 2013-2023. This is a commitment by the Australian government to improve the health and wellbeing of the indigenous population and at the same time close the gap in the health outcomes of the population. This is a follow up on the six targets for tackling Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders disadvantage that was agreed by all states (Aspin, Brown, Jowsey, Yen, & Leeder, 2012). The target is to achieve a target of under-five mortality by 2018. The outcome of the framework relies on the partnership between the government and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders community organizations to address the healthcare needs of the population.
Community services that are available for this group and the role and function of these services.
Community-controlled health services were pioneered by the WHO’s Alma-Ata Declaration that sought to address poor access to health care and discriminatory practices. This strategy is implemented by the Aboriginal community-controlled health services to create a radically different model creating primary care access (Panaretto, Wenitong, Button, & Ring, 2014). The role of the group is public advocacy for issues affecting indigenous populations by advocating affordable universal access to health care of the population. Through advocacy, the group advocates for the right of indigenous people within the country. Further, the organization also seeks to empower indigenous populations to demand their rights by speaking up and ensuring that they are treated based on what the law dictates.
Anti-racism organizations seek to reduce the prejudice and to stereotype that people face in the country. Indigenous populations in the country have suffered high levels of racial discrimination which have in turn affected their ability to interact well with the rest of the population. Access to care services becomes a challenge since most of the discriminated people live in fear which makes it difficult for them to access basic services. For example, they are called names and mistreated in different ways which make it difficult for them to seek care. For example, the national anti-racism strategy seeks to promote understanding of racism to the whole population and at the same time address structural elements of racism within the population. These campaigns seek to enlighten the population to understand the differences between people of color and the rest of the population. The campaign also advocates for policy measures as a way of addressing the challenges that the population faces.
Conclusion
Living in Australia from an indigenous community is one of the worst conditions that one cannot imagine. The history of the population shows challenges and obstacles that they have faced since the coming of colonialists in the country. The population has undergone a violation of human rights up to the twenty-first century where human rights are acknowledged everywhere. The journey of the Australian indigenous population is a journey of struggle where the people have struggled to achieve equality with other populations in the country. Racism, discrimination and violation of human rights have made the population lag behind development and access to basic care services in the country. Despite the attempt by the government to address these challenges, the population is still struggling to achieve the desired state of equality that other colonial countries have achieved. Therefore there is the need for the government to fast-track the policy process and ensure that they are designed to reflect the needs of the population. This will lead to increased equality in the population for the benefits of the indigenous group and at the same time improving the quality of life and wellbeing of the population.
References
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AustralianHumanRightsCommision. (2018, February 8). Close the Gap: Indigenous Health Campaign. Retrieved from Australian Human Rights Commision.
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