Why Don’t Aboriginals Take An Interest In Health And Well-being? Deconstructing The Question

The Historical and Social Context of Aboriginal Peoples

The main aim of this essay is to deconstruct the question ‘Why don’t aboriginals take an interest in health and well being?’.  While deconstructing the questions, the essay critically analyses the question to understand why non-indigenous people in Australia are asking such questions? What data or what events have compelled them to ask such questions? It cannot be called an ignorant question or a question that has come up all of a sudden.  Hence, the question has been deconstructed and critically analyzed by bringing forward more arguments and exploring in depth the life history of the Aboriginal peoples.

A short overview of the group is that the Aboriginal peoples are regarded as the first inhabitant of Australia who had to endure intergenerational traumas after the European settlement. After the British invasion, their land was stolen and the loss of land led to devastating social and physical impact on Aboriginal peoples (Snyder &Wilson 2015, pp. 181-189). Currently Aboriginal Peoples are regarded as the most disadvantaged group in Australia experiencing greater morbidity and mortality compared to Non-Aboriginal peoples (Mitrou et al. 2014, p.201). Due to the high rate of poor health outcome and lower life expectancy in the group, there is a speculation that Aboriginal peoples do not take an interest in health and well-being (Durey &Thompson, 2012)

The question of ‘Why don’t aboriginals take an interest in health and wellbeing?’brings forward another question. Why some non-Aboriginal Peoples have made this comment against the Aboriginal peoples?  This negative comment has been made because Aboriginal peoples have huge gap in life expectancy compared to non-indigenous people. For instance life expectancy gap between the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples is huge with a gap of 17 years. In addition, the age specific death rate is also twice the number in indigenous Australians compared to non indigenous Australians (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) 2017).  Such alarming health statistics for Aboriginal peoples exist because Aboriginal Peoples are more prone to health risk behavior than the rest of the population. By this information, it can be concluded that Aboriginal peoples do not take an interest in health and well-being. However, this cannot be confirmed. This is because the information leads to another question which is- What is the reason behind such gap in health outcome between Aboriginal peoples? Looking at the past history of Aboriginal peoples and privileges and social opportunities available to them might help to answer this question.

In response to the question ‘Why don’t aboriginals take an interest in health and wellbeing?’, it can also be argued that this is seen due to their negative experiences in the past.  Aboriginal peoples have a dark history troubled by invasion, loss of land and forced settlement. After the invasion of British, either their land was stolen or destroyed (Laidlaw & Lester 2015, pp. 25-35). Initial invasion also resulted in death and loss of many family members because of disease and being massacred by British. In the 20^th century outright killing and loss of land forced them to settle in other lands. This resulted in great socioeconomic impact for Aboriginal peoples.  This also gives rise to a question whether indigenous social determinants of health of health is affected by such experience (Wanganeen 2014, pp.475-492). The answer is yes because income, housing, employment and medical care are necessary social determinant of health. However, unemployment issue became a major burden for Aboriginal Peoples in their life. Compared to non-indigenous group, the unemployment rate for indigenous was higher by 16% (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2015).  Aboriginal Peoples lost all sources that was necessary for good living such as housing, employment and sense of belonging (Desai 2016, p.10). Hence, one can defend against the claim of poor interest in health and being in Aboriginal peoples with evidence from their history of migration and violence.

Health Disparities among Aboriginal Peoples

 Even today Aboriginal Peoples are living under extreme poverty struggling to make a living. They are also troubled by racist attitudes of non-indigenous Australians which prevent them from achieving their past glory. All these issues in the life of Aboriginal peoples bring forward a new area to explore the reason for health disparities in the group. Aboriginal peoples never got the opportunity to think about maintaining health or seeking health care services due to racist attitude and denial of respect and dignity that they deserved. Aboriginal Peoples have reported about treated like a crap just because of their race (Goodman et al. 2017, pp.87-94). Experience of racism was a major barrier for Aboriginal Peoples in getting employment, good health service as well as housing.  On this basis, it can be defended that focusing on nutritional needs or seeking health care service was not an option for them due to socioeconomic disadvantage and high rate of unemployment (Gair et al. 2015, pp.32-48).  Furthermore, experiences of inequality and discrimination prevented them from maintaining optimal health. Hence, many interconnected social factor was a cause of health and social inequality in the group.

The experience of racism clearly defends the question that has been put forward for the Aboriginal peoples. All these issues clearly show the reason for poor physical and mental health in the group. The mental health impacts is huge as Ferdinand, Paradies & Kelaher (2015, p.401) proved that racial discrimination was associated with worse mental health in indigenous group. Experiences of racial discrimination in shops, universities, employment and government setting was associated with regular period of psychological distress in indigenous people and remaining in continuous period of stress resulted in diagnosis of mental illness in Aboriginal Peoples too. Racism created a number of pathways to ill-health for Aboriginal peoples. For instance, racism was the reason for poor access to important social resources such as education, employment, housing and health care. Experiences of discrimination and exposure to violence were a reason for stress and high rate of depression and anxiety in the Aboriginal Peoples. Stress is also a contributing factor in obesity and many chronic diseases (Furukawa et al. 2017, pp.1752-1761). A health survey in 2013 revealed that about 16% Aboriginal peoples experience racial discrimination and misconduct in public (Australian Government Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet 2017). Hence, another question that can arise from this argument is that ‘Was the society responsible for not providing equal access to health and social services to Aboriginal peoples? It cannot be denied that racism acted as a major barrier in their motivation to stay and remain healthy.

The main question can also be further deconstructed by the question -Do disparities in health care access influences health outcome of Aboriginal peoples? Evidence suggests poor access to health service contributed to high rate of health issues, comorbidity and mortality in the group.  Remoteness of location, language barrier and high health care cost drives leads to poor utilization of health care service (Waterworth et al. 2015,). These are some of the reasons contributing to chronic health issues and poor quality of life in the group. Aboriginal peoples mostly live in rural and remotes areas and shortage of specialist medical service is also an issue. Lack of awareness of existing services and the knowledge regarding maintaining good health are also some of the factors that creates great health disparities in Aboriginal peoples (Chapman, Smith & Martin 2014, pp.48-58).

Experience of Racism and Discrimination

The essay critically deconstructed the question regarding why Aboriginal peoples do not take an interest in health and well-being. The question was deconstructed by looking at past history, social determinants of health, poverty, experience of racial discrimination and health disparities in the group. It gave rise to several questions and several arguments were provided with support from the life experience data of the Aboriginal peoples. It can be concluded that poor health outcome in the group is not personally constructed but socially constructed phenomenon due to lack of awareness and misconception about the Aboriginal culture. The high gap in health outcome between the indigenous and non-indigenous population is a human right concern. The government should take the responsibility to provide equality of opportunity to aboriginals and take positive steps to recognize their right to good health.

Reference:

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