Question:

Learning outcomes
Once you successfully complete this unit, you should be able to:
describe the historical, cultural and political contexts of ethnic diversity in Australia identify and analyse the social, health and economic costs of social inequality among  refugee and migrant groups.

Answer:

Introduction

The aboriginals of Australia are considered as the diverse population who are different from other population of Australia in culturally, linguistically & also experimentally.  The differences have affected their growth and they are considered a underprivileged group of the population of the country. They are deprived of the basic facilities offered by the government of the country. In the assignment, an attempt has been made to study the differences in receiving the basic facility by the Aborigine and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia with their counterparts like non-aborigine and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia in the context of health in particular and other facilities in general. At the level of health care facilities, it is very important to broaden the definition of health and it should include the physical, mental & spiritual well-being of the whole communities. The health service is not related to the symptomatic treatment of the individual.  The biomedical models of health will focus on the diagnosis, treatment & prevention so that the aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander will get actual health benefits.

Discrimination

Discrimination in health between the aborigine and non-aborigine of Victoria has been identified by World Health Organisation.  There have been great inequalities and discriminations between the aborigine and Torres Strait Islander people & non-aborigine and Torres Strait Islander. This discrimination has been treated as the largest inequalities in the world (WHO, 2008).  This has been studied that expectancy of the life of the aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander male population was estimated to be 10.6 years lower in comparison to the non-aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and the life expectancy of the females of the aboriginal is also 9.5 years lower in comparison to the non-aboriginals. The aboriginals are suffering mostly from the non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, mental disorder and the chronic respiratory diseases (AIHW, 2011).

The aboriginal group of people suffered from massacres and infectious diseases since the colonisation of Australia and the number of the aboriginal and the Torres Strait Islander become very less gradually.  These indigenous people became the most disadvantaged group.  The poverty & inequality experience their present state of life. The inequality in the status of the health has been identified and they are discriminated from the services (Landro, 2008).

Impact of Racism

In order to develop the social capital linkage of among the people of Australian Aborigine, racism has been a great barrier.  The Aborigine people are considered as the victim of racism.  The data conducted in the year 2011 about the experience of the impact of racism, this has been found that 70% of the Aborigine people suffer from racism issues for eight times in a year.  This causes a high level of psychological disorder and distress.  The impact of racism has been more on the people of Aborigine. It has been found that 30% of people avoid different situations in their everyday life (Hurley, et al., 2010).

Racism has impacted a lot on the Aborigine. The people get victimised and that results in the degradation of the health in various ways. The Aborigine has mistrust on the heath services that leads to the reluctance in order to attend the mainstream of the health services provided to them.  They do not immediately take the health care facility unless it a very grave medical problem (Vos, et al., 2007). Racism has also impacted in the discrimination in the employment market. The education system becomes unachievable for the Aborigine. The education system leads to a high rate of unemployment & the possibility of attainment of educational level becomes lower.  The psychological distress leads to the mental ill-health & this also results in risk-taking behaviours of the health (Riezenman, 2008).

The Aboriginal population of the country are deprived of the basic facilities. There is the prevalence of the poor health among this category of people in comparison to other counterparts like non-aborigine of the country. There is the difference between the cultural, linguistic and economic lifestyle of the people. The prejudice and racism and discrimination are considered as the most instrumental factors that obstruct the growth of the aborigine people of the country (Omachonu & Einspruch, 2009).  The aborigine of the Victoria is different from the non-origin of Victoria in the context of health facilities. There is the prevalence of depression & anxiety more with the people of aboriginal in comparison to the non-origin of Victoria (Clark, 2008). The need of studying the causes of the depression among the people is one of the major concerns. Prejudice & racism are considered as the two important determinants of the Aboriginal health in the country of Australia (Govindarajan, 2007). These two are considered being associated with the high levels of the mental distress of the people of the Aboriginal in Australia.

Healthcare services and status of the Aboriginals

The basic care and services level have not been extracted by the Aboriginal of the country.  There are significant disparities between the two groups in the country and all the differences are based on the social determinants & factors of the lifestyle risks.  The differences found in between the two groups are that the Aboriginal people undergo the psychological distress, insecurity of food and financial stress (Grose, 2008). Due to the psychological distress the Aboriginal face negative impact of health. This has been found in different ways, both directly and indirectly.  The depression, anxiety and the distress related to psychology become the factors of the poor health.  There has been a witness of the unhealthy behaviour, coronary heart disease & stroke among the non-Aborigine people of the country (Lehoux, et al., 2008).

There is no food security and the nutritional intake of the population is very low. Due to the food insecurity, the group undergoes lots of problems both in socially and emotionally. There are social and emotional consequences. The distress, social exclusion, impaired learning & also there is a loss of productivity found among the Aborigine in the country of Australia (Markwick A, 2011).

Socio-economic status of the disadvantaged group

The Aboriginal Victorian people are socio-economically disadvantaged in comparison to their counterparts.  The Aborigine people have lower household income & the employment rate of the people is very low.  Due to the low income of the group it results in very less disposal earning to procure the food that is healthy.  They are not able to engage themselves in the leisure activities. They can not make the social and physical activities. This leads to inadequate safety, housing and healthcare (Priest NC, 2011).

There is also a low level of educational attainment of the people of the Aborigine.  Due to lack of appropriate educational attainment, the Aborigine is at high risk of unemployment.  The low level of income has limited the possibilities of getting a job for the disadvantaged group (Awofeso, 2011).  The unemployment has put the job of the people at the risk and they do not get a living wage even.  This contributes to the lower levels of the literacy on health.

Disparities in socio capital

There have been disparities in the context of socio capital between the advantages and disadvantages group of the country of Australia.  With the Aboriginal Victorians, the levels of the socio-capital are very low. The study states that people with higher social capital get more advantage and it is associated with the higher and better health care. In that way, the Aboriginal Victorians get less scope to extract the facilities. The Aboriginal have been deprived of the social networks which offer them to get potential benefits of the education and economic that is well extracted from the white privileges and other non-Aborigine of the country (Varkey, et al., 2008).

There are three types social capital. These three are the bonding, bridging & linking.   The bonding of the socio capital refers to the link or relationship of within the community of Aboriginal. The bridging socio-capital refers to the link between the advantage and disadvantage groups. The linking of the socio-capital refers to the relationships between the Aboriginal communities and with that of the formal & the hierarchical institutions of power.

Social Environment of the Aboriginal

The social environment is affected by the length of the tenure of the neighbourhood.  This is treated as the important indicator of the social environment of the Aboriginal that affects their growth. The Aborigine makes frequent movements and the frequent relocation has adversely affected their education. The group of people are deprived of the educational opportunities. They are deprived of the link to the community and as well as to the services.  They are also deprived of the social support networks. That has adversely impacted on reducing the three major types of the social capital. Due to the low level of income, the Aborigine people experience unemployment. These people are obliged to relocate very frequently in order to find out jobs & for the support of the housing that can be afforded.

The Aboriginal Victorians get less help from their families.  This shows that there is a very low level of bonding of social capital.  Families are treated as the most important source of favour. The lack of the support of the family increases the individual vulnerability and this is a major issue during the crisis & in the stress periods.  This is more important during the time of health problems.  The high levels of the social capital bonding have to be taken care by making more provisions for the health centres so that the Aborigine families will be supported. There have been no differences between the two groups in the group meeting. Both the Aboriginal & non-aboriginal people access the community services & resources.  The Aboriginal people are more concerned about the community group.

Healthcare practices for the Aborigine of Australia

The Aborigine has the poor health. There are more possibilities of blood pressure and mental health-related problem among the people of the Aborigine.  The people receive fewer services of the healthcare than the required amount.  This has been found that Aborigine people have strong resistance for the use of mainstream health care services during the time when there is a failure of services that cannot address the cultural security (Maru YT, 2011).  This brings a lot of difficulty and challenges in gaining the trust of the people of the aborigine.  The people of Aborigine do not find the similar kind of mainstream health care services in comparison to the non-aborigine people of the country.  The Aboriginal of the Australia receives less key medical investigation & treatment when they are hospitalised for coronary heart disease and aborigine with lung or prostate cancer also receive less surgery.

Lifestyle risk factors

There is also a need of studying the lifestyle risk of the aborigine of the Australia.  The smoking, consumption of excessive alcohol, heavy body weight, poor diet & insufficient physical activity are also some of the factors that determine the poor health condition of the people of the aborigine (humanrights.gov,au, 2017).  The evidence shows that poor health condition of the aborigine people of Australia accounts approximately 26% of the aggregate health loss due to the death, disease & injury.  The policies of the government focus more on the lifestyle risk factors than important social determinants. The health issues related to the smoking, obesity and the appropriate food intake are relatively small in comparison to the social determinants (Purdie, et al., 2010).

Conclusion

The focus on the mainstream preventive systems & interventions should not remain around the factors of the lifestyle risk. There is a need of addressing the distress related to the psychology of the people of the aborigine.  The focus on the improving the mental state is more effective than the improvement policies for the lifestyle risk factors.  This will also contribute to the lifestyle risks factors such as smoking.  Thus it will be more effective if more focus is given on the psychological distress and effective strategy is required to be framed for developing the standard of the aborigine (Pyett & Waples, 2008).  For the lifestyle risks, it is important to intervene health education & social marketing. This will contribute to the development of the aborigine and they will be aware of the health disorder. There has been a negative societal belief that people of aborigine engage more in the excessive consumption of alcohol and that continues to aggravate prejudice & racism. Thus it is very important to formulate a strategy for the improvement of the health of aborigine of Australia.

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