Indigenous Health Essay

The poor health position of native Australians is a contemporaneous reflection of their historical give-and-take as Australias handed-down owners. This treatment has led to autochthonal Australians experiencing social disadvantages, importantly low socio-economic placement, dispossession, poverty and impotency as a direct result of the institutionalised racism integral in contemporary Australian society.endemical populations hasten been the carers and custodians of Australia and the Torres Strait for a period in excess of 60,000 years before being invaded/colonialised by the British on January 26, 1788 (Hampton & Toombs, Racism, colonisation/colonialism and impacts on natural large number, 2013). Before this time, it is suggested that native Australians lived relatively affluent lives and enjoyed gener onlyy better health than most people living in Europe (Hampton & Toombs, original Australian concepts of health and well-being, 2013).The arrival of introduced diseases , especially smallpox, caused considerable handout of breeding among autochthonal Australians. The impact of this is loss extended far beyond the immediate victims of disease, affecting the precise cloth of natural societies through depopulation and social disruption (MacRae, et al. , 2012). Whilst introduced diseases were the most substantial let on of the autochthonous Australians mortality, death caused by direct conflict also contributed significantly (Elder, 2003).Traditionally, original Australians had complete autonomy over all parts of their lives such as, ceremonies, spiritual practices, medicine, social relationships, management of land and law and economic lowtakings (Saggers & Gray, 1991). In addition to the impacts of introduced diseases and conflict, endemical Australians also experienced ill effects associate to disconnection from Country due to the spread of colonists and their subsequent political policies.For an innate Australian, Country is not just p hysical territory but the profound aspect of their identity (Hampton & Toombs, Racism, colonisation/colonialism and impacts on indigenous people, 2013). Occupation and colonialism wedged far beyond the physical, as Indigenous Australians had their culture devalued, traditional food sources destroyed, and were separated from their families and in some cases entire communities were dispossessed.This led to disruption or loss of languages, beliefs and social structures which form the underlying basis of Indigenous cultures. These impacts, prompted British colonists to develop several different political policies of institutionalised racism to shell out the real and perceived issues regarding Indigenous Australians. The first of these policies was Protectionism (1788 1890s). Prior to Protectionism British colonies estimable exclusion as they assumed Terra Nullius and seized control of the land, evicting Indigenous Australians from their traditional Country.The shun impacts this ha d on Indigenous Australians eventually force colonial authorities to induce Aboriginal protection boards (Hampton & Toombs, Racism, colonisation/colonialism and impacts on indigenous people, 2013). The first was completed in Victoria by the Aboriginal Protection Act of 1869, with the otherwise colonies following with similar legislation, to protect Indigenous populations within their boundaries (Parliament of Victoria, 1869). The protection provided under the various Acts imposed enormous restrictions on the lives of many Indigenous Australians.These restrictions include dictating where Indigenous Australians could live and not live, and set out limitations on forepart, marriage, employment, kale and ownership of property. The child welfare provisions of the Acts underpinned the removal of Aboriginal children from their families and communities by compulsion, duress or undue influence (State Library of Victoria, 2014). The National doubt into the separation of the children co ncluded that between one-in-three and one-in-ten Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families and communities in the period from approximately 1910 until 1970 (Wilkie, 1997).It was the 1960s, at the earliest, when the various protection Acts were either abolished or dis go on. In the early 1890s, protectionism gave way to state and commonwealth government regimes of segregation. In the development of the constitution, politicians included sections specifically excluding Indigenous Australians, such as the ovalbumin Australia policy, ensuring that racism became entrenched in the new nations future. militia and missions were set up far from white settlements, to exclude and control Indigenous Australians, especially those of mixed descent (Hampton & Toombs, Racism, colonisation/colonialism and impacts on indigenous people, 2013). By the 1950s all state governments invoked a new policy called socialisation (1950s 1960s), which aimed to eliminate Indigenous cultures , religion and languages. Assimilation was collapse on the belief that if living conditions were improved, Indigenous Australians were to be absorbed into White Australian society (Hampton & Toombs, Racism, colonisation/colonialism and impacts on indigenous people, 2013).After the failure of the assimilation policy, governments aimed their sights towards Integration (1960s 1980s). Integration was a step towards multiculturalism by allowing Indigenous Australians and non-Anglo European immigrants to keep certain aspects of their culture whilst conforming to mainstream white Australian society. During 1970s Indigenous Australians were beginning to become acknowledged as Australian citizens, this led to the development of the self-determination and self-management (1970s-1990s) programs (Hampton & Toombs, Racism, colonisation/colonialism and impacts on indigenous people, 2013).These policies were based on the slow acceptance of multiculturalism and the beginnings of Indigenous Austra lians involvement in Australian politics, although the actual amount of self-determination available to them was limited. When these polices were found to be powerless the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation (CAR) was established in 1992 to overcome differences and inequities between Indigenous Australians and the wider Australian familiarity (Hampton & Toombs, Racism, colonisation/colonialism and impacts on indigenous people, 2013).The Reconciliation movement (1990s- pay) seeks to advocate for Indigenous Australians rights, their place in our shared history and to establish economic independence among Indigenous Australians in order to promote comparison for all Australians (Hampton & Toombs, Racism, colonisation/colonialism and impacts on indigenous people, 2013). Whilst government policy appears to be moving in the right direction, we are still a immense way away from Indigenous autonomy and self-determination.All of these policies had a very detrimental effect on the healt h of Indigenous Australians both in terms of physical and mental health issues, many of which bring on continued through to contemporary times. Perhaps the most poignant of these impacts are those that have resulted from the Stolen Generations. There is much dispute surrounding when colonial authorities began removing Indigenous children from their families and communities, although many experts believe that it was very soon after the establishment of the British colony in Australia (Duffy, 2000).Children with Indigenous mothers were seen to be legally neglected at birth, and removed from their families, communities and in most cases their culture, to be raised right up until the latter part of the 20th Century (Hampton & Toombs, Racism, colonisation/colonialism and impacts on indigenous people, 2013). Because of these practises, many Indigenous Australians have deep psychological and mental health issues that continue to plague them today.Modern literature tells of many instances of suicide and current identity issues, emerging from the torment of being disconnected from family, culture and country. The status of Indigenous Health has been impacted severely by the Stolen Generations and other agone Government practises. For many Indigenous Australians, the ongoing effects of protection and the forced separation of children from their families compound other social, emotional and physical disadvantages (Wilkinson & Marmot, 2003).These disadvantages are collective by the Social determinants of health, including economic opportunity, physical infrastructure, and social conditions that influence the health of individuals, communities, and societies as a whole. Inequalities in these are especially evident in education, employment, income, housing, access to services, social networks, connection with land, racism, and incarceration rates (McDonald, 2010).In all of these factors, Indigenous Australians experience substantially lower rates than non-Indigenous Aus tralians, with the most agony being that Indigenous Australians have a significantly lower life expectancy rate and overall health status, than their non-Indigenous counter-parts. These inequalities, combined with the social attitudes towards Indigenous Australians and their health in contemporary Australian society, contribute to the difficulties Indigenous Australians have accessing adequate healthcare.It is also difficult to provide adequate healthcare for Indigenous Australians as many service providers do not understand how Indigenous Australians conceptualise health. Until recently, there was no separate term in Indigenous languages for health as it is understood in western society (Eckermann, 2010). The traditional Indigenous perspective of health is holistic. It encompasses everything important in a individuals life, including land, environment, physical body, community, relationships, and law.Health is the social, emotional, and cultural wellbeing of the whole community a nd the concept is therefore linked to the sense of being an Indigenous Australian. This preparation of health has much in common with the social determinants model and has of import implications for the simple application of a medical model as a means of improving Indigenous health. Whilst the purely medical approach is doubtless useful in identifying and reducing disease in individuals, but its limitations in addressing population-wide health disadvantages, such as those experienced by Indigenous people, must(prenominal) be recognised.It is important to remember that policies and practises of the past have had major perverse impacts on the health of contemporary Indigenous Australians, and these impacts have contributed significantly to the inequalities present in Indigenous and non-Indigenous health status. However, whilst health disadvantages experienced by Indigenous Australians are considered to be historical in origin, the perpetuation of the disadvantages relies heavily on contemporary structural and social factors.