Australian Aboriginal People-Free-Samples for Students-Myassignment

Question: Discuss about the Australian Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander People. Answer: Australian Aboriginal are the indigenous people of Australian Mainland and are legally considered as the Australian inhabitants. Whereas, Torres Strait Islander People are considered as the indigenous people of the Queensland, Australia. These Torres Strait Islander People are genetically and culturally Melanesian people (Fredericks 2013). Before the colonization by the British the Australian Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander People used to live a hunter/gatherer life style and had good quality of health. However, this Australian Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander People experience the largest incidence of health issues and shorter life expectancies compared to the non-indigenous Australians (Aiatsis.gov.au, 2017). Since the year 2006 the Australias indigenous and the non-indigenous health entities along with the NGOs and the Australian Government worked together to better the situation. This combined effort or the campaign is termed as Close the Gap (Donato and Segal 2013). The main aim of the essay is to assess the Closing the Gap Prime Ministers Report, 2017 and does it address the environmental, social, and cultural determinates of health that affects the indigenous Australians. Next the section of the report that will be put to an elaborate discussion is the Chapter 6 which deals with the healthy lives of the indigenous Australians. Within the Social determinants of health, the following things will be discussed: early life, social gradient, work, social exclusion, social support, unemployment, food, transport and addiction. In the cultural determinants of health, the following will be discussed: life experience, upbringing, group history, sexual orientation, education, age, socio economic class, gender, spiritual belief, religion, ethnicity and language. While in the environmental determinants of health, the following will be discussed: housing conditions, air quality, water quality, land and soil quality, food contamination and safety, waste dispo sal, hazardous substances, noise/ electromagnetic fields, occupational risks, agricultural methods, climate and ecosystem change and behaviors related to environment. According to Closingthegap.pmc.gov.au (2017), the report speaks that the considering the life expectancy of the indigenous Australians, the close the gap is not on track. The life expectancy of the indigenous Australians according to the year 2010-12 shows that at the time of birth, the life expectancy of the males is 69 years (the non-indigenous Australasians have life expectancy of 79 years). However, the life expectancy of the Indigenous female Australians is 73 years (the non-indigenous Australians have life expectancy of 83 years). This estimates are actually for the newborns and don not reflect the life expectancy of the people of any other group. The report stresses on the need to increase the life expectancy of the males and females by 21 and 16 years respectively (Aspin et al. 2012). The determinants of health that contribute to the reduced life expectancy are the social determinants of health which includes education, upbringing, sexual orientation, gender and also the ethn icity. The environmental determinants that contribute to the reduced life expectancy are the air quality and water quality. Whereas, the social determinants that contribute to the reduction in life expectancy are the stress, addiction towards smoking, tobacco and drugs, food, unemployment and work (Pmc.gov.au 2017). The second major concern is the incidence of cancer, due to which the mortality rates have increased and thus the gap between the non-indigenous and the indigenous people are increasing. It has been found that the chronic diseases like the cancer, circulatory, respiratory disease and diabetes are the major contributors of 70 percent deaths of indigenous people. Between the tear 1998 to 2015 the deaths due to cancer has increased by 21%. However, the percentage has declined for the non-indigenous people and is around 13%. The increased incidence of cancer also has a positive impact on the life expectancy of Aboriginal and Torres islander people. Cancer Australia launched a framework called National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cancer Framework works for the improvement of the cancer outcomes (Condon et al. 2014). The Cancer Australia undertakes initiatives like it supported the Aboriginal Health Council of South Australia to create resources that will help the Indigenous Aust ralasians that have the lung cancer. However, it also organizes community workshops that helps to spread the awareness and in the early detection of gynecological cancer, breast and lung cancer. The determinants of health that contribute to the increased incidence of cancer include all the three social, environmental and cultural determinants. Thus, the social determinants include the addiction towards drugs, alcohol, tobacco and smoking and poor diet. Whereas, the cultural determinants include the age, gender and geographic origin or residence. Whereas the environmental determinants include the sunlight, pollution, radiation and occupational exposure (Aihw.gov.au 2017). The another health issue that affects the majority of the Australian Aboriginals and Torres islander people is diabetes and especially type 2 diabetes. However, the incidence of the type 1 diabetes is more common among the teenagers and kids. The Closing the Gap Prime Ministers Report, 2017 says that one of the main reason of 70 percent increased indigenous death is due to the chronic disease like diabetes. The National Diabetes Services Scheme (NDSS) is an effective initiative by the Australian Government which is managed by the Diabetes Australia. The determinants of health that affect that contribute to the health effects of the Australian Aboriginals and the Torres islander people are the social and the cultural determinants. The cultural determinants include the age, gender, ethnicity. Whereas the social determinants include the poor food habits, stress and work (Diabetesaustralia.com.au, 2017). Studies showed that risk factors like alcohol, obesity and smoking altogether increased the gap of health risks. Although reports suggested that there has been an 9% reduction in the rates of smoking among the Australian Aboriginals and Torres islander people. However, despite of all the improvements the smoking tendencies among the Australian Aboriginals and Torres islander people were 2.7 times higher than the non-indigenous Australians. The Australian Aboriginals and Torres islander people that lived in the remote places showed the higher tendencies compared to the ones that live in the non-remote places (Gould et al. 2012). Thus this situation demanded an active intervention from the Australian government and the National Tobacco Strategy 2012-18 provides a framework for the reduction of tobacco related problems in Australia. This framework emphasizes on the effective control of tobacco and monitoring the progress. The incidence of smoking is high among the individuals ages 15 an d belong from the Australian Aboriginals and Torres islands. Tackling Indigenous Smoking is a program that monitors the tobacco control practices. This program also targets the smoking behaviors among the teenagers of the Australian Aboriginals and Torres islander people and also among the pregnant women residing in the remote places. The program also grants funds for the cessation and prevention, along with evaluation and research (Tobaccoinaustralia.org.au, 2017). The prevalence of smoking among the Australian Aboriginals and Torres islander people can be contributed to the some of the determinants that promote the smoking tendencies. Like the geographical location, age and gender. Therefore, from the above disclosure, it can be concluded that the Australian Aboriginals and Torres islander people are the most affected indigenous Australians in comparison to the non-indigenous Australians. The increased incidence of the several diseases caught the attention of the Australian government that started the Close the Gap campaign in order to reduce the gap of health conditions in comparison with the non-indigenous Australians. According to the Closing the Gap Prime Ministers Report, 2017, life expectancy, cancer, diabetes and smoking are the bigger areas of concern which needs effective plans and policies so that the health conditions of the Australian Aboriginals and Torres islander people can be improved. References Aiatsis.gov.au (2017).Indigenous Australians: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. [online] Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. Available at: https://aiatsis.gov.au/explore/articles/indigenous-australians-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-people [Accessed 14 Dec. 2017]. Aihw.gov.au (2017). [online] Aihw.gov.au. Available at: https://www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/aa938fd4-21e8-4854-9207 c70306e4f2b3/13732.pdf.aspx?inline=true [Accessed 9 Dec. 2017]. Aspin, C., Brown, N., Jowsey, T., Yen, L. and Leeder, S., 2012. 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