Stereotyping Of Native Australians: A Historical Analysis Of Health Inequality Determinants

Background

Question:

Why don’t aboriginal people take care of their own health?”

Stereotyping of the native people is not a very recent trend among the non-native people. It tends back to centuries ago when the land of Australia was colonized by Europeans (Reed et al. 2017). In order to describe the mentality as well as the mindset of the person asking the question, it is important to travel back to time in order to discuss the era from where the trend of stereotyping natives were first noted. Important determinants of native health inequality mainly comprises of lack of proper access to primary health care. Moreover lower standard of health infrastructure like improper and unhealthy housing, lack of quality and nutritious food, sanitation had all affected their health for a large number of years. Moreover they are not provided with scope for education and hence their financial condition could never be improved. All these determinants of health need to be discussed in order to understand the poor health conditions of the native Australians.

Before the colonization of the Australians by the Europeans, about 500 peaceful natives resided in Australia with about 75000 people (Rix et al. 2015). Their culture was also about 60000 years and such an enriched culture was their pride which had made them the traditional custodians of the lands of the nation (Durey et al. 2016). Their culture had made them believe that every physical and mental health disorders can be attended by the culmination of effective comprehensive outlook for different spiritual and holistic interventions of lives (Kelaher et al. 2014). They shared a strong bond with their motherland. However, their happiness was short lived as James Cook, a European, initiated colonization of the area by the British army help as he found it to be a good place for the accommodation of their overcrowded prisons. From this era, they started exploitation of the peace loving native people as they were not being able to cope up with the shrewd mentality and planning of the British. Killing of native people to capture their lands, spreading of dangerous diseases in the land, stealing their livelihood resources, destruction the natural resources, emotional and physical violence and many others conflicts continued for large number of years (Treloar et al. 2016). They have made the population drunkards even went to the extent of poisoning their food only to clear they form the land (Durey et al. 2016). The native people were given a little scope to develop their intellectual ability to stand up and fight back (Kelaher et al. 2014). Hence, the individual who asked the question should first ask “Were the native Australians given the scope to be educated about their health? Was they made a part of the health medicine advancement?”

Determinants of Health Inequality

Native people were never given a scope to live respectfully and demand their rights on the land. As the British people were more planned in their procedures, they made every situation adverse for the natives so that the community can never see the light of advancement. These had made the natives illiterate and they had failed to develop any habits which are benefitting for their health. The British never allowed them in their own constitution and considered them to be a part of their government. These had affected their self respect to a large extent for which they have never approached non natives people for the health concerns (Rix et al. 2015). Over the period of times, conflicts lead to severe conditions where more than half of the population perished and those who stayed back lacked proper method of effective livelihood. Education attainment is responsible for influencing health throughout lifespan. It is known that people who have higher levels of education are able to get better access to healthy as well as social environments, better job and income security. They also tend to have a greater sense of control over life circumstances. Moreover education also helps to make individuals associated with health awareness, health literacy and self care. All of these lead to improved care and well being. It has been seen that native people although attain secondary and post secondary education but their numbers are remarkably less than that compared to non native people. It has been found that 23.1% of individuals aged 15 and older could not attend high school graduation. It is also found that 43.7% of all the native people fail to attain education. Hence, they fail to develop proper healthy living strategies for themselves.

Therefore, the person who is asking the question should first go over the historic events which show that the native people were not given the scope to extend their knowledge beyond their own portion of land (Carey et al., 2017). They were not given the scope of education which made them backward in the society and therefore they could not develop their intellectual skills. As a result they remained illiterate and they were also not given the chance to educate themselves about health and the beneficial effects of living healthy lifestyle (Hunt et al. 2015). Therefore one can ask the question back to the concerned person that ‘whether they were given the chance to educate themselves and learn about proper habits of living?’

Impact of Colonization

Due to the lack of health literacy as well as the exploitation that occurred in their community, they had withdrawn themselves from any expectation from the government. The British had already caused a very poor condition of the community through their inhuman activities which made native people penniless and their financial power became low (Freeman et al. 2016). With uneducated backgrounds and poor financial condition, neither they could not maintain proper hygienic life nor could they get the scope of proper healthcare for the government (Hotz et al. 2014).

Moreover, although the exploitation on the native people became less intensified in the later years but the outlook of the non native people remained the same. They still were stereotyped for their choice of food, culture and healthcare choices. From the question asked in the assignment, it clearly depicts a stereotypical outlook for the native people by non native people (Treloar et al. 2016). However, the main reason behind this, as found from the deconstruction of the entire background of the question, is poor access and fewer opportunities for the native people to get access to the healthcare services.

The present government is exhibiting a sympathetic outlook towards them and is trying their best to make them educated form the very early age along with the establishment of community schools and higher education centers (Hunt et al. 2015). These are done with the vision that if they get educated well about their health and surrounding, they will be able to gather the knowledge and at the same time advice their older generation of good living habits. Many of the healthcare centers are also sending their staffs for treatment to such communities so that they can also educate such people about their healthcare and give them good advices (Carey et al., 2017).

Native Australians do not have equal opportunities to be as healthy as the non native Australians. The relative socioeconomic disadvantage had been the main reason which had put them at a higher risk of exposure to different types of environmental as well as environmental health risk factors. A large number of native households also do not support good health. They do not have proper services like effective sewage systems, clean drinking water, rubbish collection services, healthy and hygienic housing and others. Although improvements on some of the measures for native people’s health status are made, but they have failed to match the rapid rate with which health gains are made in the general population of Australia.

Lack of Education and Poor Healthcare Infrastructure

It is very important for the present day government to first conduct a social analysis about the main reason that results in poor health condition of the native people. It is very important to conduct data analysis about how each of the social determinants of health is affecting their livelihood. It is very important for the government to pay importance to their demands and wishes as acceptance of their demands will make them feel included within the government. However in the domains of health, it is extremely important for them to give the equal rights and opportunities to the natives as given to the non native people, so that they can also develop knowledge and learn to take care of themselves in the correct and scientific manner. Excessive exploitation and stealing of lands in the past, lack of proper education and also lack of proper housing with proper services, lack of access to health care have been the main reasons for their poor health. These should be paid importance by the present government to make their condition better and give them a bright future.

References:

Carey, T.A., Dudgeon, P., Hammond, S.W., Hirvonen, T., Kyrios, M., Roufeil, L. and Smith, P., 2017. The Australian Psychological Society’s Apology to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People. Australian Psychologist, 52(4), pp.261-267.

Durey, A., McEvoy, S., Swift-Otero, V., Taylor, K., Katzenellenbogen, J. and Bessarab, D., 2016. Improving healthcare for Aboriginal Australians through effective engagement between community and health services. BMC health services research, 16(1), p.224.

Freeman, T., Baum, F.E., Jolley, G.M., Lawless, A., Edwards, T., Javanparast, S. and Ziersch, A., 2016. Service providers’ views of community participation at six Australian primary healthcare services: scope for empowerment and challenges to implementation. The International journal of health planning and management, 31(1).

Hotez, P.J., 2014. Aboriginal populations and their neglected tropical diseases. PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 8(1), p.e2286.

Hunt, L., Ramjan, L., McDonald, G., Koch, J., Baird, D. and Salamonson, Y., 2015. Nursing students’ perspectives of the health and healthcare issues of Australian Indigenous people. Nurse education today, 35(3), pp.461-467.

Kelaher, M., Sabanovic, H., La Brooy, C., Lock, M., Lusher, D. and Brown, L., 2014. Does more equitable governance lead to more equitable health care? A case study based on the implementation of health reform in Aboriginal health Australia. Social Science & Medicine, 123, pp.278-286.

Markwick, A., Ansari, Z., Sullivan, M., Parsons, L. and McNeil, J., 2014. Inequalities in the social determinants of health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People: a cross-sectional population-based study in the Australian state of Victoria. International journal for equity in health, 13(1), p.91.

Reed, R.L., McIntyre, E., Jackson-Bowers, E. and Kalucy, L., 2017. Pathways to research impact in primary healthcare: What do Australian primary healthcare researchers believe works best to facilitate the use of their research findings?. Health research policy and systems, 15(1), p.17.

Rix, E.F., Barclay, L., Stirling, J., Tong, A. and Wilson, S., 2015. The perspectives of Aboriginal patients and their health care providers on improving the quality of hemodialysis services: a qualitative study. Hemodialysis International, 19(1), pp.80-89.

Treloar, C., Jackson, L.C., Gray, R., Newland, J., Wilson, H., Saunders, V., Johnson, P. and Brener, L., 2016. Multiple stigmas, shame and historical trauma compound the experience of Aboriginal Australians living with hepatitis C. Health Sociology Review, 25(1), pp.18-32.