Indigenous Health Issues Essay Experienced Among the Aboriginal

Introduction
Every Australian Nursing student is generally evaluated on indigenous health issue essays since natives are a very important part of Australia. Therefore every Australian Nursing graduate must have a thorough understanding of health problems experienced by native populations.Paradoxes are often found to exist in terms of understanding a culture thoroughly and determining the misconceptions that disrupt the very process of such understanding. Indigenous populations, which often suffer from emotional abuses rendered by ethnocentric majorities, are observed to be one of the primary sources of such abuse and misunderstandings. In this respect a discussion on the Yorganop group deserves special mention. Indigenous population suffers from the menace which instigates the seizing of children from their parents as a way of fueling misunderstanding that eventually contribute to over-representation of the issues that usually occur in the context of relating the wellbeing of indigenous children with the state care efforts (Orr 2014). In the article, “Aboriginal children taken into care due to misunderstanding,” denotes how a good number of indigenous children are emotionally abused. But such abuse is a result of racial bullying and racial discrimination that have sustained their menacing nature. It is in terms of analyzing and evaluating the issue in a thorough manner that this essay is going to discuss the social determinants of health that should be then aligned with the myriads health issues experienced by the Aboriginal population living in the concerned area.

Social Determinants of indigenous health issues essay experienced among the Aboriginal Population
The government of Australia has been faced with problems in terms of ensuring quality health and accessible health care delivery systems for the indigenous population. The wide health gap between aboriginal and non-aboriginal Australian population has continued to play a crucial role in hindering the health prosperity of uncountable aboriginals (Gudykunst 2013). The indigenous health issues essay helps identify health gaps while considering the international community as a form of human rights violation and the United Nations has specifically conveyed concern about the issue to the government of Australia.

It is the theory of social determinants that should be employed in order to understand the real reasons of such health disparities faced by the aboriginal population. There are several interrelated social factors that contribute to social inequality and such factors contribute thoroughly to the violation of tenets and laws of human right in an explicit manner. Hamston and Murdoch (2014) have suggested that the violation of one particular human right render direct negative impact on other human rights, making the process an entire negative chain reaction. It is in this context that the discourse of human rights have been given much emphasis so that a fruitful framework can be provided for analyzing the potential impacts of governmental policies on the health of aboriginal population.

Moreover, there are some relevant determinants of social inequality for the aboriginal population that has also determined the condition of health of the concerned population. The lack of equality in terms of accessing effective health care has also made the situation grimmer for the aboriginal population. Hemming (2010) has showed how the lack of effective health care access facilities has impacted negatively on the aboriginal population, making it quite impossible for the concerned population to put emphasis on the processes of ensuring their quality health. This essay will also include why there is a need of implementation of effective health care delivery system in order to blur the health gap that has jeopardized the health of innumerable aboriginals.

Trends identified on the indigenous health issues essay
Studies have shown that the health gap between indigenous and non-indigenous population in Australia is a huge one. The health condition of the aboriginal population is quite poor when compared to the health conditions of the non-indigenous Australian population. Quite explicitly, statistics have shown how the health gap between indigenous and non-indigenous population is growing steadily in Australia (Jackson 2012). In this context it should be noted that health disparities have resulted in the lowering of life expectancy rate for the aboriginal population. It has been found that the gap between the life expectancy rate of aboriginal and non-aboriginal population in Australia is about seventeen years. Such a statistics is quite shocking.

There is a scarcity of policies that could facilitate proper access for the aboriginals to effective health care delivery system in Australia. Pauwels (2011) has observed that this inaccessibility is the primary contributor to the growing health gap between the indigenous and non-indigenous Australian population. But it is not only the sole contributor. There are several other factors that have paved the way for the rise in the health gap between Australian indigenous and non-indigenous population. For an instance, the wide income gap and resultant wealth gap is one of the most important factors that have instigated the rise in the health gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australian population. Economic disparity has been determined to be a crucial factor in terms of exposing the indigenous population to environmental and behavioral health risk factors in an explicit manner. Moreover, it has been found that apathy of different levels of government in Australia towards effective implementation of potential policies for eradicating wage gap has also resulted in the inability of innumerable aboriginal individuals to mitigate their health risks in both the short- and long-run. Besides, economic disparities have triggered the rise in the degree of unhealthy housing arrangements cursed with ineffective sewage system and impure drinking water that have also contributed to the deteriorating health conditions on the part of the aboriginal population.

As discussed earlier, the dearth of proper governmental policies has actually made it impossible for the government to narrow the health gap that exists between indigenous and non-indigenous Australian population. In terms of reducing the health gap and income gap the progress on the part of the government has been slow and this trend is quite visible since the past few decades (Pauwels 2010). Brunner (2011) has observed that certain specific developments have been made in terms of addressing the health related issues experienced by the aboriginal population, but such progress should be considered slow under the lights of progresses made to usher improvements in the health conditions of the non-indigenous Australian population that has proper access to primary care in a thorough manner. In this respect it must be noted that owing to proper access to crucial health care delivery systems that the mortality rate in the context of cardiovascular infections and diseases has been alleviated among the non-indigenous Australian population by about 30 percent since 1991 and in the same course of time about 70 percent of the death rate (in the concerned respect) has been lessened.

Furthermore, considering the hindrances faced by the younger generation within the aboriginal population regarding accessing primary health care delivery services it can be said that the future of the aboriginal population (in the health context) is thoroughly grim (Pride 2010). Statistically, the fixed rise in the size of younger indigenous and aboriginal population in Australia means that the government has to be proactive in developing and implementing effective health care access policies so that the future of the concerned groups can be secured in terms of health quality and quality of life. More effective and affordable health care services have to be introduced so that the indigenous Australian population can become more capable of taking good care of its health. But the government must develop and enact such programs and policies with thorough caution considering the fact that in the past such efforts had been proved to be futile efforts only.

Besides, it must be observed (as discussed earlier) that the present health gap between Australian indigenous and non-indigenous population is one of the primary outcomes of racial and ethnic discrimination that has plagued the country for long. Owing to such discriminations (that have also been institutionalized to some extent in Australia) the aboriginal population, in particular, has failed to prosper both socially or economically. And this is one primary reason why the aboriginal population has failed to access costly health care services. This, in turn, has deteriorated their health status quite thoroughly. Reynolds (2014), on the indigenous health issues essay, has suggested that the root of the problem lies in the fact that still now the aboriginal population does not have proper access to mainstream services, including primary health care services. Such inaccessibility has, again and again, triggered health and social disparities, resulting in systematic errors in the course of governing the country’s populace. And it has been predicted that if such disparities continue then it would be quite difficult for the aboriginal population to ultimately enjoy their right to good health in the future.

Relationship between Socio-Economic Status and Health Status
The relationship between socio-economic status and health status is quite intricate. This relationship is quite evident among the indigenous Australian population that is suffering from inaccessibility to primary health care in quite an explicit manner. The indigenous Australian population has been the victim of socio-economic disparities for long owing to the discriminative attitude of the mainstream Australian society as a whole. The National Census report of 2001 indicates that (cited in Shaw et al. 2011) the average gross income of the aboriginal households are almost twice lesser than the average gross income of the non-indigenous households. The report has also conveyed that the rate of unemployment among the aboriginal population is three times more than what prevails among the non-indigenous Australian population.

Besides, the close association between socio-economic disadvantages and poor health conditions has been depicted by a number of research studies in the past, indicating the truth that poverty is directly proportionate to deteriorating health conditions among the concerned population (Trask 2010). Studies have also suggested that poor education system and lack of proper access to primary education also contribute largely to lowered economic status that eventually pave the way for the rise of myriads of problems in the health context. Poor educational status results in poor income levels and poor income levels eventually act as barrier to proper access to primary health care (Cornell 2012). Moreover, it has also been found that socio-economic disparities force the indigenous population to remain satisfied with poor housing conditions which are conducive to communicable diseases, making their health conditions worst. Studies have also shown that owing to socio-economic disadvantages many aboriginal individuals fail to gain control over those basic means that are meant for developing one’s socio-economic conditions. In this respect Wajnryb (2012) has conveyed that the stress experienced by the aboriginals in the context of experiencing the gap between desire and outcome (both social and financial) eventually increase the degree of their mental agony, and this increase is thoroughly related to deteriorating health conditions. It is a scientific truth that chronic stress can damage the immune system to a large extent, affecting metabolic functions and disrupting the circulatory system. This truth is quite evident among the aboriginals, and this should be considered a primary reason why the health conditions of majority of indigenous Australians are deteriorating.

The government must understand that there is lot to do in terms of blurring the health gap that still exists between the indigenous and non-indigenous Australian population. Proper access to economic resources and equal allocation of resources should be considered among policies that should be implemented by the government to address the grim issue. Moreover, the indigenous health issues essay highlights health policies like promotion of health lifestyle also need to be considered in a thorough manner. Besides, traditional economic practices should also be promoted in order to pave the way for the indigenous Australians to prosper economically and financially in their own way (Wilkinson 2010). Such policies are thoroughly essential to narrow the wage gap between the indigenous and non-indigenous Australian population and to ensure that the health disparities are addressed and mitigated explicitly and appropriately.

Conclusion
For long, the issue of blurring the health disparity among indigenous Australian population has remained a critical issue for the government of Australia. Since a long period of time the paradoxes between the aboriginal and non-aboriginal Australian populations in terms of accessing primary care has remained an issue of discontent for the overall Australian population and for the international communities and organizations (including the UN). Many different factors have been found to be playing a crucial role in triggering and sustaining the concerned health gap and among them socio-economic inequalities deserve special mention. Moreover, racial and ethnic discrimination and discriminatory policies at the workplace and at the socio-economic and political levels have also been considered as important sources of health disparities. Owing to such conditions (both social and economic) that myriads of indigenous Australians have failed to sustain quality and healthy life. Research studies have also argued that there exists a strong relationship between socio-economic disparities and health disparities. Quite clearly, poverty is a key determinant of the health condition of a certain population. And considering this fact the government of Australia must strive for developing and enacting policies that would effectively address the concerned disparities in order to help the aboriginals in gaining proper access to primary health care, ensuring good health and quality life for them.

References
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