INDIGEOUS HEALTH:

IDENTIFY KEY TERMS AND COMMON LANGUAGE USED IN THE DISCUSSION OF INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS.
Indigeous people: descendants of those who inhabited a country or geographical region at the time when
people of different cultures/ ethnicities arrived
Lakota in USA/ ATSI in Australia/ Saami at Northern Europe/ Maori of NZ

OUTLINE DIFFERENCES IN HEALTH OUTCOMES BETWEEN INDIGENOUS AND NON-INDIGENOUS

AUSTRALIANS.
ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDERS:
- Approximately 17 years lower life expectancy
- Higher rates of CVD and Cancer

AUSTRALIA:
- ABS estimated that there were 798,400 indigenous people living in australia in 2016.
- NT had the highest proportion of indigenous people among its population (29.5%) and Vic the lowest (0.9%)

FACTS:
- In Australia, the indigenous population is much younger:
● Median age of 23yoa compared to 37yoa for non Indigenous
● 12% of indigenous people were aged 50years or over, compared with 51% of non Indigenous people
- Indigenous females will live 7.8 years less than non Indigenous females
- 25% increase in mortality rates from cancer of Indigenous between 1988 and 2017
- Reduced disparity in life expectancy overall, but indigenous mortality rates are still 1.8times that of non
Indigneous.

REASONS FOR POORER HEALTH:

1. Poor education
2. Socioeconomic factors
3. Psychosocial factors
4. Access and delivery of healthcare
5. Their own health choice
IDENTIFY KEY DETERMINANTS OF INDIGENOUS HEALTH.
DETERMINANTS OF INDIGENOUS HEALTH: SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS:
SOCIAL DETERMINANTS:
Education:
- provides basic literacy skills (2012 - 6.3% of public school student)
- Lower rates of school attendance (83% vs 93%)
- Lower Year 12 attainment (65% vs 89%)
- Underrepresentation at University (2% vs 4%

Employment:
- basic education = employment opportunities (2013 - 46.5% employed)
- 47% of Indigenous are employed compared to 72% non- Indigenous
- 18% unemployed compared to 5% non-Indigenous
- Large proportion employed as “personal service worker” or “labourers” (15%)
- In 2016, non-Indigenous were 1.4 times more likely to be employed than Indigenous

Income:
- low SES = poor health + quality of life
- Mean gross weekly household
- income $542 compared to $852 for non-Indigenous
- Over one third (36%) of Indigenous living in lowest income quintile household compared to 17% of non-
Indigenous
- In 2013, 1 in 5 Indigenous reported living in a household that had run out of food

DETERMINANTS OF INDIGENOUS HEALTH: HEALTH CARE

HEALTH CARE ACCESS:
Costs:
- low SES = difficult to pay for out of pocket expenses e.g. medicine
– Travel, transportation & accommodation
– Out-of-pocket expenses for services & medicines – Loss of income due to absences from work

Location:
- 2011: 65.2% ATSI lived in rural/ remote areas = big distance for services
- Living in a remote area
● The majority of Indigenous people live in cities and towns
● Close to a quarter of Indigenous people live in areas classified as ‘remote’ or ‘very remote’ in terms of
access to goods, services and social interaction opportunities
● Only 2% of non-Indigenous people live in ‘remote’ or ‘very remote’ areas in Australia.

Culture:
- many ATSI people rather seek help from tribe elder and services must be culturally sensitive

PSYCHOSOCIAL FACTORS:
Colonisation:
- new diseases (typhoid)
- Death from violent conflict over land and resources
- Death from new infectious diseases
- Loss of autonomy, spiritual connection to the land and access to resources because of forced resettlements

Dispossession of Land:
- poor well being due to; loss of identity, sense of self + culture

Stolen Generation (1910- 1970):

- mental health issues due to loss of family
- 1 in 3 families were affected by the ‘protection’ legislation between 1910-1970
- Severed family ties
- Interrupted cultural knowledge transmission
- Emotional/physical/sexual abuse
- Cultural genocide

IDENTIFY KEY CHALLENGES TO IMPROVING INDIGENOUS HEALTH OUTCOMES.

INDIGENOUS HEALTH: CHALLENGES AND SOLUTION:
CHALLENGES:
- Social Support
- Social Capital
- Social Cohesion
- Community Empowerment

CONSTRUCT SOLUTIONS TO DEAL WITH INDIGENOUS HEALTH INEQUALITIES.

SOLUTIONS:
- Care provided to Yarrabah people of far north Queensland
- Indigenous community controlled health organisation
- Identified need to assess mental health of Indigenous locals
- Delivered in culturally sensitive environment, with consideration for the needs of the people attending (Harriss
et al, 2018)