Aboriginal Health Research Paper

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Indigenous Australians are a group among many others such as the homeless that fail to receive adequate health services due to their socioeconomic status. Health literacy is defined by the institute of medicine (2004) as the “ degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions” (page 2). The lack of health literacy amongst aboriginal communities affects their ability to navigate the healthcare system, share their past medical history with providers also hinders their ability to understand the concept of statistics and probability. Although the Australian government have been attempting to provide indigenous Australians with adequate…show more content…
For the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population born in 2010–2012, life expectancy was estimated to be 10.6 years lower than that of the non-Indigenous population for males (69.1 years compared with 79.7) and 9.5 years for females (73.7 compared with 83.1) Australian Institute of health and welfare (2010, pg. 29). The reason for such a disparity between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians is because aboriginal lifestyle has been drastically changed since the colonisation of Australia. The changes in diet as well as the introduction of new diseases have greatly effected indigenous Australians. The mental health of many among indigenous communities would have also been effected. The loss of land and kinship would have greatly impacted many which would lead to substance abuse of alcohol and drugs, which is why mental health within indigenous communities is linked to their social and economic disadvantage. The issue of metal health within these communities need to be further addressed as suicide is the second leading death by injury, which further fortifies the fact that health policies regarding indigenous people are not working (Australian Institute of health and welfare,…show more content…
This is due to the type of service they receive as people may hold prejudice or stigma, as well as a language barrier may make it difficult to access certain health care services. Living in a remote area can also be a problem as the location of certain services in comparison to where an individual may be located would most likely be far. They must also take into account the cost of the health service they will receive as it may be too expensive to travel to the health centre as well as paying for the service (Smye, V., & Browne, A.

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