The history of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from an estimated 65,000 years shows their resilience and strength to life. There have been significant events in Australia’s modern history such modern history that has succeeded in uniting people. Both the Mabo High Court decision and the 1967 referendum made the non-indigenous and indigenous Australians campaign or what they believe is right. This includes the fact that the for many years, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have cared for their country and that the songs they composed have been sung and have helped to pass on their traditions and customs Australian Government (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Indigenous Australians, 2017). In 2008, Australia enacted the Closing the Gap framework to recommit, recommit and renew their collective efforts and focus on improving health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (Australian Human Right Commission, Close the Gap – Progress & Priorities Report 2017, 2017).
The social justice report was introduced in 2005 and aimed at ensuring that the government of Australia commits to ensuring that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people obtain quality health care and increased life expectancy. The close the Gap campaign is a social justice campaign that was started in March 2006 as the National Indigenous Health Equality that is keen on ensuring that there is health equality for the Indigenous people. About 40 non-indigenous health and Aboriginal Strait Islander organizations took part in the campaign. (Australian Human Right Commission, Close the Gap – Progress & Priorities Report 2017, 2017).
The close the Gap campaign is considered as the public face of the National Indigenous Health Equality campaign. It was implemented in April 2007 in Sydney and is led by organizations such as Oxfam Australia, National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organization and Human (Commonwealth of Australia, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (Closing the Gap Prime Minister’s Report 2017, 2017). In December 2007, the Council of Australian Governments committed to ensuring that the goal of closing the gap in health and life expectancy in the non-indigenous Australians and Aboriginal Torres Islander Australians is achieved. The statement of intent of the close to Gap targets was signed in March 2008 (Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet, 2015).
There have been improvements in the employment, health, and education of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people since closing the Gap strategy was implemented. However, only seven of the goals are yet to be met. The Government indicated in early 2018 that it would revive the strategy by ensuring that it changed the way it works with the Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander people to help in closing the gaps. There has been a decline in the mortality rates by around 35% and the gap has narrowed by 32%. There have also been improvements in the maternal and child health (Commonwealth of Australia, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Closing the Gap Prime Minister’s Report 2017, 2017).
There has been an increased enrollment of children to schools. In 2016 an estimated 14,700 indigenous children were allowed into childhood programs. In 2017, the attendance rate of non-indigenous students is higher than for the indigenous students at 93.0% and 83.2% respectively. There has been an increase in the number of indigenous people aged 20-24 who have reached year 12 to approximately 65.3% in 2016 from 47.4% in 2006. There has been increased employment among the Aboriginal and Torres Islander people. There has also been an increase in life expectancy due to the decline in the mortality rates of the indigenous people (Commonwealth of Australia, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Closing the Gap Prime Minister’s Report 2017, 2017).
The Aboriginal mortality rates are higher than the overall rates of the Australians of all ages. While there has been a decline in the non-indigenous death rates, there has been a limited reduction in the mortality rates of the Aboriginal people. This is attributed to the lack of timely and quality health care. The life expectancy of the Aboriginal boy is about 17 years shorter than for the non-indigenous Australians. The life expectancy gap is huge for the aboriginal girl. Non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases have a huge impact on the indigenous people (Australian Government, Department of Health (National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan 2013-2023, The social determinants of health, 2013).
The adult prevalence is estimated to be seven times more than that of the non-indigenous Australians. Although the mortality rates from the non-communicable diseases have reduced, the morbidity rates remain higher (Inequalities in the social determinants of health, n.d). The hospital admission rate of Aboriginal males is 60% more than that of non-indigenous males (National frameworks about Aboriginal and Torres Strait, n.d). The hospital rate for the females inclusive of the childbirth admissions is 50% higher than that of the non-indigenous women. Although there is no national data on the number of Aboriginal people living with disabilities, a recent survey indicated that one out of four Aboriginal people has either one or two disabilities (Australian Human Right Commission, Social determinants and the health of Indigenous peoples in Australia – a human rights-based approach., 2007).
The empowered communities’ initiative aims at ensuring that people and communities are empowered and is led by the Aboriginal people. This is because their lives are the most affected and hence they are empowered to ensure that they have control over major decisions that have an impact on their lives. The initiative involves setting priorities, ensuring proper funding and enhancing services at the regional level. The initiative is about the government supporting the indigenous leaders with the vision of positively impacting their regions and communities. This initiative puts the indigenous participation and culture at the front of the government’s decision making (Commonwealth of Australia, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Empowered Communities, 2017).
The government and other institutions such as the Jawun indigenous corporate partnerships are in the process of implementing the initiative in about eight regions in Australia. $14.4 million has been provided by the Australian government for three years to ensure proper funding in the regions (The Australian, $5.9bn fails to close the indigenous gaps, 2017). The regions have also received data packages that help them in identifying the community needs and efficient planning of how to address the needs. Communities such as La Perouse have identified a facility where the local Aboriginal Organizations train the indigenous health care workers as well as providing quality health care that is aligned with their practices. Since the implementation of the initiative, the Minister for Indigenous Affairs and the prime ministers have been working with the empowered community leaders.
The aboriginal people face health inequity due to lack of access to quality health care services. They also lack quality health infrastructure in their communities. As a result, most of them do not receive timely treatment and hence increasing morbidity and mortality rates. The aboriginal people also have poor housing and lack quality food and sanitation (Australian Human Right Commission, Social determinants and the health of Indigenous peoples in Australia – a human rights-based approach., 2007). The empowering initiative aims at ensuring that these inequalities are eliminated and that the quality of health of the aboriginal people is improved. The initiative is also keen to ensure that the indigenous people have quality housing and food through proper funding at the regional level (Commonwealth of Australia, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework 2014 Report, 2014).
The empowered initiative has great potential for improving the social and economic status of the Aboriginal people. This is because it aims at ensuring proper income distribution and hence ensuring that the indigenous people have access to quality food and housing. The initiative is also keen on ensuring that the aboriginal people acquire the education that will help them get employment opportunities and hence boost their income. Education will also help in assisting the indigenous people to make well-informed decisions regarding their health. The initiative also aims at ensuring that all the aboriginal people are not discriminated against. It also aims at ensuring social inclusion of the aboriginal people. This is important as it helps the indigenous people are treated as the non-indigenous people and that they can access health services and quality housing and food (National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples, The Redfern Statement, A call for urgent Government Action, 2017, 2017).
In conclusion, Indigenous people have many inequalities such as lack of access to quality healthcare, housing, and food. The resilience and strength of the indigenous people play a huge role in ensuring that policies are put in place to ensure that they heal from the trauma they underwent. Bringing all the Australians together can help in ensuring that there is change. The reconciliation in Australia depends on the leadership and dedication of all the people. Both the close the gap initiative and has empowering initiative has helped in reducing these inequalities. However, much more can be done to ensure that aboriginal people are not discriminated against and that their health is improved.
References:
Australian Government, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Indigenous Australians. (2017). Retrieved from: https://www.aihw.gov.au/indigenous-australians/
Australian Government, Department of health, National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan 2013-2023, The social determinants of health. (2013). Retrieved from https://www.health.gov.au/internet/publications/publishing.nsf/Content/oatsih-healthplantoc~determinants
Australian Human Right Commission, Close the Gap – Progress & Priorities Report 2017. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islandersocial-justice/publications/close-gap-progress-0
Australian Human Right Commission, Social determinants and the health of Indigenous peoples in Australia – a human rights based approach. (2007). Retrieved from https://www.humanrights.gov.au/news/speeches/social-determinants-and-health-indigenouspeoples-australia-human-rights-based
Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet. (2015). What is closing the gap? Retrieved from: https://www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/closing-the-gap/key-facts/what-is-closing-the-gap
Commonwealth of Australia, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework 2014 Report. (2014). retrieved from https://www.dpmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/publications/indigenous/Health-PerformanceFramework-2014/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-health-performance-framework-2014report/social-determinants.html
Commonwealth of Australia, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Closing the Gap Prime Minister’s Report 2017. (2017). Retrieved from https://closingthegap.pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/ctg-report-2017.pdf or access via the web link: https://closingthegap.pmc.gov.au/
Commonwealth of Australia, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Empowered Communities. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.dpmc.gov.au/indigenous-affairs/empoweredcommunities
Inequalities in the social determinants of health of … (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4209035/
National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples, The Redfern Statement, A call for urgent Government Action, 2017. (2017). Retrieved from https://nationalcongress.com.au/about-us/redfern-statement/
National frameworks about Aboriginal and Torres Strait … (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/indigenous-australians/national-frameworks-about-indigenous-australians/contents/summary
The Australian, $5.9bn fails to close the indigenous gaps. (21 April 2017). Retrieved from https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/indigenous/59bn-fails-to-close-the-indigenousgaps/news-story/d3e687dcfa6d3f7ffc185457786a545d
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