The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander is in reference to all people whom have got the Aboriginal and/or the Torres Strait Islander descent. According to the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO), the term health is defined as the good and stable individual’s social, feelings and the cultural condition, which includes also the well-being of the entire community whereby every single person is at a position of achieving his/her daily duties. The well-being of all the people leads to good health condition of the entire indigenous Australian community. The Aboriginal people view health as the whole-life aspect. The healthcare facilities should at all times work towards achieving the health status in which each individual is capable of attaining the full potential as the living creatures, and it must ensure that the total well-being of the Aboriginal communities is met. The holistic angle of the health and the community well-being revolves around the entire society throughout the individual’s life-course. This understanding focuses on the wide scope of issues such as social justice, equality, human rights and also, the traditional knowledge, traditional healing, and the country connection (Taylor and Guerin, 2012). Hence, the indigenous Australians ideology of health revolves on the mental health and the physical, cultural and the spiritual well-being. In this paper, I will focus much attention on the concepts of the cultural safety, self-determination, and collaboration with regard on how the Australian Government commits itself on improving her indigenous members’ health good condition and stability. The government is ever committed on raising the health standards of the indigenous occupants of the Australia’s mainland or those on the Tasmania’s island by reducing the niche on the health outcomes on the broader scope of the Australians.
The Australian government has prioritized on the improvement of health conditions of the indigenous Australians in order to minimize the health inequality amongst them. All this would include the results for the physical, the mental health, disabilities and the palliative care for the children and the old. By offering the indigenous young population with a good healthy foundation to human life creates the basis for them to achieve success in school and their future opportunities in employment (Smith, Fatima and Knight, 2017). Further, assisting the indigenous elderly citizens to access better health services enabling them to remain healthy and happier leads to the better working of the communities.
The population of the Australians before the European colonization varied but it was estimated to have been approximately over one million of the Aboriginal and the Torres Strait Islander occupants. There existed various Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groupings and many different languages spoken. Although, the population reduced rapidly immediately after the colonization. In the 1920s there existed about sixty thousand aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. The colonization of the European on the islander people had various impacts on their health and wellbeing. Firstly, colonization leads to the displacement of the Aboriginal and Islander people from their ancestral lands (O’Shane, 2014). Land displacement led to the various side-effects such as loss of lives through violent acts in the process of evicting the Islanders out and resistance from the owners. This greatly led to high mortality rates, lack of food since there existed no peace amongst the aboriginal and islander to practice their hunting and gathering activities. High death rates left many people homeless and without parents/guardians to offer car and provide the basic needs. Such conditions lead to the reduced healthy standards since health care providers will be scared away, malnutrition due to lack of balanced diet, hunger-related effects and other dangers arising from lack of proper housing (Funston, 2013). Furthermore, most of the aboriginal and islander people suffered from the infectious diseases which caused a high rate of deaths. Secondly, colonization led to the enactment of new laws which as consequent limited the land rights of the aboriginal and islander people causing segregation amongst other Australians and allowing them to have little or no self-determination. The new laws conflicted with existing laws and as a result, the health rights of the ancestral people were compromised, hence, no equality to quality healthcare services. Thirdly, colonization leads to the displacement of families whereby children were separated from their parents and moved to the European missions or set up reserves to be brought up there. This impacted on them both negatively and positively. The children were restricted from using their local languages and practicing their cultures (Khan and Khan, 2009). These restrictions led to the cultural erosion and adoption of foreign cultures. Lastly, the aboriginal and the Torres people were abused both physically and sexually in the European institutions and served as slaves in their own lands. This led to the high poverty levels amongst the aboriginal and islander people, unplanned pregnancies and transmission of sexually infectious diseases.
As a healthcare service provider, my own social and cultural locations which comprise of the beliefs, values and the attitudes should influence the healthcare practice with the aboriginal patients, their caregivers, and the aboriginal health workers positively (Guzys and Petrie, 2013). I will manage all these through incorporating their cultural diversity, beliefs and develop a positive attitude and passion in the medical field while serving them. I should love my profession and always remember that I took an oath to save lives or improve them without any discrimination. I will acquire the essential skills relevant in serving the aboriginal people (BIDDLE and PROUT, 2014). For example, I should be competent, learn their cultural aspects and the appropriate health care safety measures. As a health service provider, I would learn their local languages, this will assist in understanding what they say or whatever they shall be described regarding their health status. I will try as much as possible to be accommodative to the aboriginal people’s cultures, beliefs, and land laws. Through such, I will be at a position to behave and act as an aboriginal person which will make my work easier. Research has shown that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait population is on the increase, with fifty percent of the population aged below twenty-five years, there is a need for immediate and early enough interventions and prioritizing their easy access to better health services (CHCDIV002, 2010). On the contrary to the increasing population, there is a high mortality rate due to suicide amongst the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders than it is in the non-aboriginal, hence, mental healthcare support is vital. The aboriginal and the islander people have got a strong cultural aspect, communal spirits, and the identity.
I as a future health service provider, I will implement several advocacy strategies with the main objective of closing the gap in healthcare provision amongst the Aboriginal and the Torres Strait Islander citizens. First, I will launch healthcare campaigns to create awareness amongst the indigenous Australians (Lohoar, Butera and Kennedy, 2013). Through the campaigns, I will be at a position to educate the population on the importance of getting health care services in time not to solely rely on traditional medicines and beliefs. Secondly, I will come up with a technical medical committee to draft a healthcare plan for the people and present it before the government to have it implemented and budget allocation for the betterment of the health care services to her citizens. thirdly, I shall advocate for health care talks in the various gatherings either in public or private institutions with an aim of educating the masses on the proper ways of preparing meals, taking balanced diets and proper hygiene practice (Earp, French and Gilkey, 2011). I will close the gap for the aboriginal health workers through organizing healthcare professional teams and team building for motivations and professionalism sharing. Lastly, I will build up guidance and counseling teams to offer support to the mental-health patients and those Australians who are opting to commit suicide.
In conclusion, the healthcare of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander should be based on cultural safety, considerate self-determination, and collaboration. The European colonization had impacted both negatively and positively to the health care services delivery. It led to the high death rates through violence, infectious diseases and other long-term tortures which led to either suicidal acts or mental health deterioration and disabilities. The colonization positively impacted on the introduction of European healthcare provision ways, like having built mission schools to teach and train.
Most of the population in Australia is below twenty-five years and it is seemingly increasing at a high rate. Although, there is a high death rate as a result of suicidal acts and mental health deterioration. The aboriginal population is a vibrant community that is still strong in their cultural practices and beliefs. I therefore recommend that the Australian government should consider setting up guidance and counselling groups to assist to counsel those citizens who give up with life and think of suicide acts as the only option. Such groups will assist in guiding them on the alternative ways of survival means instead of giving up. The government also should set up a mental health facility to take care of the mentally challenged patients.
References
BIDDLE, N. and PROUT, S. (2014). Recent Change in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Population and Housing Geographies. Geographical Research, 52(2), pp.133-145.
CHCDIV002 Promote Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait islander cultural safety. (2010).
Earp, J., French, E. and Gilkey, M. (2011). Patient advocacy for health care quality. Sudbury, Mass.: Jones and Bartlett Pub.
Funston, L. (2013). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Worldviews and Cultural Safety Transforming Sexual Assault Service Provision for Children and Young People. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 10(9), pp.3818-3833.
Guzys, D. and Petrie, E. (2013). An Introduction to Community and Primary Health Care in Australia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Khan, W. and Khan, I. (2009). Solutions to Issues of Equity in Primary Healthcare for Aboriginal People Living in Canada. Hypothesis, 8(1).
Lohoar, S., Butera, N. and Kennedy, E. (2013). Strengths of Australian Aboriginal cultural practices in family life and child rearing.
O’Shane, P. (2014). The Psychologigal Impact of White Colonialism on Aboriginal People. Australasian Psychiatry, 3(3), pp.149-153.
Smith, K., Fatima, Y. and Knight, S. (2017). Are primary healthcare services culturally appropriate for Aboriginal people? Findings from a remote community. Australian Journal of Primary Health, 23(3), p.236.
Taylor, K. and Guerin, P. (2012). Health care and indigenous Australians.
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