Discuss about the Australian Aboriginals.
Over an extended period of time, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait people in Australia have been undergoing varied social, cultural, economic, and political among other forms of discrimination. Endeavours to thwart these mistreatments have achieved fewer results because statistics still portray how rampant they are. This paper seeks to explore the poor outcomes of health experienced by the indigenous people, the social determinants of their health, an explanation of two of the discussed determinants and finally a discussion of some of the ways that nurses can employ to address the social determinants as a promotion of general health and wellbeing.
1. The poor health outcomes experienced by the indigenous people of Australia are numerous. They range from disability, deaths, high incidence of diseases like cancer, infectious ones, diabetes and those of the cardiovascular system. First off, death is the most unfortunate outcome that bedevils these people. They are way higher likely to die compared to the non-indigenous Australians. Statistics have it that an indigenous boy who is born between 2010 and 2012 is likely to live up to 69 years of age. This finding is ten years below the non-indigenous boy. In addition to that, a girl under similar circumstances likely lives up to 74 years of age, again, ten years below the non-indigenous counterpart. The federal government records indicate that there were 2,914 deaths in the year 2014 among the Australian indigenous people (Gwynne & Lincoln, 2016). These deaths are mostly associated with cardiovascular diseases, injuries which include suicide and accidents and cancer.
In a study done in 2012, around a quarter of the total indigenous population had at least a disability. This ratio is the highest amongst all the populations in Australia and also among all the age groups. The children of the aboriginals aged between 0 and 14 years have twice as high chances of developing disabilities compared to those of the non-originals. Additionally, the entire population of the indigenous and the Torres Strait people have an elevated rate of needing assistance standing at 63% as compared to the non-indigenous populations at 60%. The disabilities are attributed to oppression, poor health behaviours like smoking and alcoholism, brutality from the police departments and the general discrimination in medical response and attention (Hutt & Clarke, 2012).
Communicable diseases are rampant in these population, and they influence the health outcome. The notifications on tuberculosis among the indigenous people were 11 times higher than the others between the years 2009 and 2013 (“RANZCP calls for recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders“, 2015). Hepatitis is also rampant among the aboriginals with notifications being eight times more in between 2010 and 2014. Haemophilus influenza had 13 times notifications among the aboriginals in 2009 and 2010. The invasive pneumococcal disease was very high among adults with fifty years and above, also in children below four years. The rates were 18 times greater for the aboriginals between 25 and 49 years of age. In 2014, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) also had a high incidence among Indigenous Australians than their nonindigenous counterparts. It was 18 times greater for gonorrhoea and three times for syphilis and chlamydia. For HIV, the diagnosis rates among the aboriginals were 1.6 times higher than the nonindigenous population (Brown et al., 2014).
Heart diseases, cancer, and diabetes, are also the poor outcomes of health among the indigenous people. One-eighth of their total population (about 13 %) gave reports that they at least suffered some form of cardiovascular disease. One in every 28 people has had stroke, heart or another vascular condition. In total, 6% of the total indigenous population have hypertension that is confirmed. Therefore, the figure could be higher with the inclusion of the unconfirmed cases (Brown et al., 2014). The incidences of cancer in this population is very high. Lung cancer was 1.7 times greater, 1.6 times for uterine cancer in 2005 and 2009. It is also reported that 9% of the total indigenous population have diabetes, and 202 deaths were witnessed in 2013 (Stoneman, Atkinson, Davey, & Marley, 2014). The mentioned are among the few poor health outcomes experienced by the Aboriginal and the Torres Strait peoples of Australia.
2. The social determinants of health can be categorised as contextual, distal and proximal. Contextual determinants are related to historical, global and regional ideologies, laws and treaties. Among them is colonialism, dispossession and racially motivated legislation and regulations. Since the arrival of the British in 1788, the original inhabitants of Australia have been subjected to a lot of tribulations. Colonisation is one of the social determinants. As a result, the settlers grabbed their arable lands, killed many of their families, ousted their leadership and policies were projected to disadvantage these people completely. In other words, the invasion and settlement marked the inception of the indigenous population’s problems that have extended to the contemporary society. Colonialism influenced many systems among them health (Walter, 2016).
Dispossession promoted poverty and inaccessibility to appropriate resources. Currently, it has affected the way health care is dispensed to the aboriginals. Legislation like the 1838 policy by the British was turned around to oppress the indigenous people further. Distal determinants are those that are institutionally or legally structured. Some of them are inequality to accessing healthcare, unemployment, increased rates of incarceration and low social and economic status. Unemployment marks poor economic situation and hence the inability to settle health bills. Poor access to health care promotes poor outcomes like death and disability. Increased rates of incarceration encourage overcrowding in prisons and consequent spread of communicable diseases (White, 2014).
Finally, the proximal determinants are those that operate at interpersonal and individual levels. They are numerous, for instance, stereotyping, prejudice, associated effects of unhealthy behaviour and other negative attitudes. For example, smoking and alcoholism. They are rampant in aboriginal populations and influence the health outcomes like developing cancer and eventual death. Stereotyping the aboriginals as being unlearned, weak, alcoholic and unimportant has contributed to mistreatment in health institutions thus dimming the health outcomes (Hoy et al., 2012).
3. The two selected social health determinants are racism and social disadvantages. Racism against the Aboriginal and Torres Strait people has consistently been exercised with their description as the most outside group of the entire Australian population. Racism was established in two phases. Phase one was during the arrival of the first British fleet where warfare and forced labour were used. The second wave is the era after a referendum which has been orchestrated till modern days. In both phases, institutional racism was witnessed. Health workers discriminate the indigenous people; educational centres deny them access to wisdom and other mixed forms. For instance, Derbarl Yerrigan, an indigenous medical services centre was fined for spending beyond 8 million dollars of an annual budget.
Furthermore, teaching hospitals were sentenced for using extra 80 million on aboriginal people. Racism causes poor health through chronic stress, poor coping. In a 2009 study on 823 schoolers, the impact of racism on wellbeing was rampant among the indigenous population (Hoy et al., 2012).
Social disadvantages have also contributed to oppression. Higher rates of unemployment, overcrowding, high levels of incarceration, unhealthy behaviours, poverty, and others have influenced poor health outcomes. For instance, 78% of the total indigenous population live in poorly established houses. 23% of them live in congested areas. In 2011, 19% used to live below poverty line. 13% are more likely to be incarcerated than the others. Poverty is one of the major contributions to poor health outcomes. These social problems have reduced the rates of improving Aboriginal and Torres Strait populations’ livelihoods (Heath Jeffery, 2014).
4. Since they operate at the community level, nurses have a higher chance of creating a difference in the influence that the social determinants have on health. Closing the Gap initiative has been spearheaded by the government and non-governmental organisations to improve the indigenous people’s problems. Nurses can promote public awareness on the injustices through the media and inform people that they interact with, like colleagues. Furthermore, they can honestly deliver nursing care to the oppressed group and motivate them. The ability for nurses to innovate means of fighting racism can be useful. Nurses can also participate in the development of guidelines, strategies, and policies that promote equal treatment of the Torres Strait and Aboriginal populations.
The process of acquiring knowledge should be constant for a nurse. They should look for historical, research, motivational, law, ethical and other forms of information. These details can help a nurse motivate change. They can also engage in researches that give quality recommendations on health care of the indigenous populations. Attaining cultural competence to help in solving the social problems can be useful for nurses. They can develop on the strengths of the aboriginals. Again, nurses can be steadfast in criticising the governments, individuals, and fellow health workers to treat aboriginals with respect. Above all, the employment of ethical principles like beneficence can promote good life and eliminate the social determinants’ effects (Chapman, Duggan, & Combs, 2012). Adopting the “agent of change” character is meaningful because many flaws in health care of the Torres Strait and aboriginal people of Australia will be eliminated. Nurses are key in fostering meaningful health interventions.
In conclusion, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait peoples have had problems of accessing good health care, education, employment and others through social determinants. They are categorised into three, the proximal like prejudice, stereotyping and poor health behaviours, distal like inequality, unemployment, and high incarceration rates and finally contextual, such as colonialism and oppression. Also, nurses can play a significant role in alleviating the effects of these determinants. For instance, through research, advocacy, knowledge, motivation, demonstrations among others.
Alex, O., Brown, A., Mott, K., Brown, K., Lawson, T., & Jennings, G. (2014). O005 Essential Service Standards for Equitable National Cardiovascular CarE for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People – An Exemplar Approach to Closing the Gap. Global Heart, 9(1), e2. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gheart.2014.03.1225
Chapman, R., Duggan, R., & Combs, S. (2012). Promoting Change and Improving Health by Enhancing Nurses’ and Midwives’ Knowledge, Ability and Confidence to Conduct Research through a Clinical Scholar Program in Western Australia. ISRN Nursing, 2011, 1-9. https://dx.doi.org/10.5402/2011/245417
Gwynne, K. & Lincoln, M. (2016). Developing the rural health workforce to improve Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health outcomes: a systematic review. Aust. Health Review. https://dx.doi.org/10.1071/ah15241
Heath Jeffery, R. (2014). Infectious, social and environmental determinants of blindness in adult Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other Australian populations. Clinical & Experimental Ophthalmology, 43(4), 392-394. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ceo.12432
Hoy, W., Davey, R., Sharma, S., Hoy, P., Smith, J., & Kondalsamy-Chennakesavan, S. (2012). Chronic disease profiles in remote Aboriginal settings and implications for health service planning.
Hutt, S. & Clarke, A. (2012). Promoting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Support in Out-of-Home Care. Children Australia, 37(02), 76-79. https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cha.2012.16
Molloy, L. & Grootjans, J. (2014). The Suggestions of Frantz Fanon and Culturally Safe Practices for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in Australia. Issues In Mental Health Nursing, 35(3), 207-211. https://dx.doi.org/10.3109/01612840.2013.855854
Parker, R. (2014). Dementia in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Med J Aust, 200(8), 435-436. https://dx.doi.org/10.5694/mja14.00259
RANZCP calls for recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. (2015). Australasian Psychiatry, 23(2), 195-195. https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1039856215575427c
Stoneman, A., Atkinson, D., Davey, M., & Marley, J. (2014). Quality improvement in practice: improving diabetes care and patient outcomes in Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services. BMC Health Services Research, 14(1). https://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-14-481
Walter, M. (2016). Social Exclusion/Inclusion for Urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People.SI, 4(1), 68. https://dx.doi.org/10.17645/si.v4i1.443
Ward, J., Goller, J., Ali, H., Bowring, A., Couzos, S., & Saunders, M. et al. (2014). Chlamydia among Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people attending sexual health services, general practices and Aboriginal community controlled health services. BMC Health Services Research,14(1). https://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-14-285
White, R. (2014). Indigenous Young People and Hyperincarceration in Australia. Youth Justice, 15(3), 256-270. https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1473225414562293
Woollacott, A. (2015). A Radical’s Career: Responsible government, settler colonialism, and Indigenous dispossession. Journal Of Colonialism And Colonial History, 16(2). https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/cch.2015.0025
Essay Writing Service Features
Our Experience
No matter how complex your assignment is, we can find the right professional for your specific task. Contact Essay is an essay writing company that hires only the smartest minds to help you with your projects. Our expertise allows us to provide students with high-quality academic writing, editing & proofreading services.
Free Features
Free revision policy
$10Free bibliography & reference
$8Free title page
$8Free formatting
$8How Our Essay Writing Service Works
First, you will need to complete an order form. It's not difficult but, in case there is anything you find not to be clear, you may always call us so that we can guide you through it. On the order form, you will need to include some basic information concerning your order: subject, topic, number of pages, etc. We also encourage our clients to upload any relevant information or sources that will help.
Complete the order form
Once we have all the information and instructions that we need, we select the most suitable writer for your assignment. While everything seems to be clear, the writer, who has complete knowledge of the subject, may need clarification from you. It is at that point that you would receive a call or email from us.
Writer’s assignment
As soon as the writer has finished, it will be delivered both to the website and to your email address so that you will not miss it. If your deadline is close at hand, we will place a call to you to make sure that you receive the paper on time.
Completing the order and download