Assessment 3 Assessment Task Details and Instructions Week Due Part A: Report (Week 12) Part B: “Pitch It” Presentation (Week 12 in class) Assessment Type Part A: Report 35% Part B: Presentation 5%...

Running Head: Aboriginal and Strait Islander Community and Poor Health
Aboriginal and Strait Islander Community and Poor Health 7
Assessment 3
Aboriginal and Strait Islander Community and Poor Health
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    Introduction
Aboriginal and Strait Islander Communities experience lower levels of education, unemployment, improper access to health services and adequate housing than the Non indigenous communities. They have higher rate of infant mortality, and high risk of suffering from several diseases like respiratory problems, trachoma, rheumatic heart disease, cardiovascular illness, mental illness, chronic kidney disease, obesity and diabetes (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare [AIHW], 2018). Their life expectancy is 20 years less than the Non indigenous Australians. Infant mortality rate for indigenous populations is 13.6% higher than the other Australians.
The most common cause of deaths in Indigenous people is cardiovascular illness, stroke and heart problems. Every year 3.7% deaths occur due to suicide, which is 2.4% greater than the Non indigenous people (Delane & Gauci, 2013). The endocrine diseases like diabetes are also found to be 8.3 times greater in these communities. The hospitalization rates due to cardiovascular diseases are 2 times higher in indigenous populations than the non-indigenous people. They are at 2.7 times higher risk of psychological distress than the other Australians. They live in congested and overcrowded social houses, where there is high risk of contamination due to communicable infectious diseases.
This report will analyze the social issue of ‘Poor Health’ experienced by the Indigenous communities in Australia, and will involve a description of past strategies raised for addressing the health issues, the critical policy analysis, stakeholder analysis, and demonstration of social work theory to respond towards the issue of poor health.
Examination of Social Issue and its impact on population group
There are several social, economic and political forces which indulge these people towards poor health outcomes. The social factors influencing the indigenous communities are racism, discrimination, cultural disconnection, lack of education, unemployment, childhood experience of violence. The trauma occu
ed due to from colonization, loss of land, erosion of cultural identity, and forced separation of children from families, has affected the people deeply.
Living in compromised housing facilities prevent them from getting poor nutrition, there are economic hardships, which encourage the adults towards unhealthy coping strategies like drug addiction, smoking and alcohol addiction (Australian Indigenous Health Infonet, 2016). These communities practice cultural obligations to share their household resources with their family members. It devoid them from attaining adequacy of resources to maintain their health.
There are certain political factors like inequitable policies with unequal distribution f power between the indigenous and non-indigenous. The indigenous women are 4 times high risk of doing self-harm or suicide. The dominant western culture of Australia has been in conflict with the spiritual and cultural identity of aboriginal communities.
The persistent illicit drug use in indigenous adults is also one of the high risk factors for poor health status. The main determinants of poor health condition in this community are low income, unemployment, illiteracy, lack of awareness, physical environments, health behaviors, access to health services, social support and coping strategies. They seldom find any work and where it is found they are given low wages and are compelled to work in hazardous conditions which put their health and life at risk. The children and women live under domestic violence and alcohol addiction at home. Access to health services is another issue for them. Due to lack of resources and far off distances, there are shortage of facilities and shortage of trained medical staff in distant locations. The insurance schemes and cost recovery makes the services less accessible. The inconsiderate and rude staff who have no cultural sensitivity also make the health services less accessible for indigenous people.
Historical Context of Poor Health
The colonization caused annihilation of indigenous populations, through infectious diseases and huge massacres which left only 10% to stay alive by 1850. They were segregated and dispossessed of their land. Assimilation policies of government destroyed the communities and families and removed their children. Therefore, the prevalent inequality of health is associated with systematic discrimination experienced by them through the generations.
The colonization gave rise to multiple ba
iers at different levels and affected the health of indigenous Australians. For example, the role of economic and political forces, physician patient interaction and holistic delivery of healthcare services. The interventions and strategies are required to be implemented at each of these levels to develop culturally sensitive environment and improve the health outcomes.
The government initiated several policy approaches and frameworks to address the poor health issue in Aboriginal and To
es Strait Islander Communities. The council of Australian Government (COAG) committed to address the social disadvantage for indigenous communities in 1992 (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2019). And identified the need to address the basic cause of disadvantage and inequality in these communities. The program was based on shared responsibility and partnership between government agencies with emphasis on local communities. The action plans were developed by Ministerial Councils, there was regular performance reporting and benchmark identification.
COAG also developed National Framework of Principles for government services delivery for indigenous Australians, & Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage Framework. These frameworks deal with the themes like Harnessing the mainstream, sharing responsibility, establishing accountability and transparency and focusing on priority areas.
There are commitments at inter government level. There have been bilateral health agreements between the states, te
itories and commonwealth. State level health forums have been established, Regional plans have been developed which identify the priorities and needs, and framework has been established for the national performance monitoring.
The Health for indigenous communities does not refer to just physical wellness but in
oader sense it involves physical, mental, cultural and...