Social Determinants of Health in Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Community

This article discusses the social determinants of health in Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander community in Australia, specifically in terms of cardiac diseases. It also suggests interventions such as health literacy programs to address the issue.

Running head: SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
Introduction
Cardiac diseases are the sector of the human diseases that affect the heart and the
vascular system and also the impact over the neurological system. On this context it can be
stated that the cardiovascular diseases would be transmitted by the hereditary pathway or the
behavioural and the environmental effects would be the process that actually affect the
cardiac system. In Australia it has been found that the habit of the smoking, high fat and
carbohydrate content in the diet and also the neglect to the physical exercise lead to the
condition of the obesity, hypertension and diabetes development. All these factors can be
termed as the behavioural and the environmental or specifically the social determinants of the
public health condition in terms of the cardiac disease. Among Australian population
Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Indigenous community is most vulnerable group in this
context of the behaviour dependent cardiac disease. In the following section the social
determinants of health in case of the cardiac disease and the intervention for this condition
would be discussed in detail.
Section 1
Social determinants of Cardiac disease
Cardiac disease in the present condition found to be the most effective issue as the
morbidity and the mortality rate from this disease is higher than many diseases. The
Australian community of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people showed the highest
rate of the morbidity and mortality rate from cardiac diseases. According to the statistical
data 3 percent of the Australian population is the Aboriginal people and among them 42
percent are heavy smokers also it can be seen that the factor of the mortality among the
Aboriginal people found to be 64 percent due to the chronic diseases (Australian Institute of
Health and Welfare, 2019). Hence, it can be seen that the behavioural factors of the

2SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
Aboriginal people affect their health and leads to the chronic cardiac diseases which leads to
high rate of morbidity and mortality among them (Northwood, Ploeg, Markle‐Reid &
Sherifali, 2018). On the other hand it can also be seen that the rate of the gap between the
health outcomes of the non-Indigenous people and the Aboriginal people is 39 percent and
according to the government data it is due to the social determinants of health (Australian
Institute of Health and Welfare, 2019). The factor of the cardiac disorder development among
the people of the Indigenous community is rapid as they are adhering to several beliefs and
also the behaviour which highlights the neglect of the safety of health. On this context the
social determinants of health can be identified among these people such as the socio-
economic structure, employment, addiction that is smoking or alcohol intake in excessive
amount, cultural beliefs, health literacy and also the environmental resources (Moore,
McDonald, Carlon & O'Rourke, 2015). On this context as the statistical data highlight that
the factor of the smoking addiction among the Aboriginal people is high. However, it has
been found that the mortality rate of the Aboriginal population lessened by 15 percent from
1998 to 2015 as of the effects of the health policy development and the health education
providence to the Aboriginal people (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2019).
However, the factor of the mortality by the cardiac disease still high among these people and
the smoking addiction also lessened, still the rate of lessening is not adequate. Thus it can be
stated that the social determinant of health should be considered by the health care providers
in the country in order to counter the rates of mortality due to the smoking. Hence, on this
context it can also be stated that the effects of smoking is an issue that lies in the behavioural
aspect of the population. The change in belief and the proper education regarding the process
of the disease control should be conveyed with highest priority and the focus of this process
would be the Aboriginal people of the Torres Strait Islander community (Whalen, Moss &
Baldwin, 2016). Other than these the factor of the cultural and the health literacy should also

3SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
be considered in addressing the condition of the cardiac disease management among the
Aboriginal people. On this context it can be recommended that the addiction to the smoking
should be eliminated by and for doing that the government and the health care providers
should find the mental conditions as well which also relates to the aspect of the socio-
economic condition of individual and community. Thus the social determinants of health
plays a crucial role in the health condition management along with impacting over the
conditions with higher risk development of mortality and morbidity (Einsiedel, Pham,
Woodman, Pepperill & Taylor, 2016).
Section 2
Intervention
Based on the above discussion it can be stated that the intervention of this condition
only refers to the health literacy development among the target people. The health literacy
program would be including the aspects of the activities that involves people and avoid the
smoking or any kind of substance abuse activities as well. Hence, the health literacy program
would be a health empowerment program for the effects of the smoking and other
behavioural factors that can be effecting the health outcomes of the people (Webb &
Williams, 2018). On this context it can also be stated that the aspect of the intervention
should focus on the data collection by the qualitative and quantitative process in order to
gather the information about the condition of the health and also the literacy level of the
people of the community. After this the context of the stake holder engagement should be
factorised by the proper advertising and also the appraisal process inclusion as well. Hence,
on this context it can be stated the health literacy program would be dependent on the time
and also the financial investment. Thus the financial investors should be engaged in this
process as well. Thus on this context it can be stated that the government engagement for the
process would be required for the financial inclusion (Lawless, Lane, Lewis, Baum & Harris,

4SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
2017). On the other hand the process of the health literacy program should focus on the age
based empowerment as the adolescent people of the population found to be the most
vulnerable age group in terms of the smoking or the substantial abuse. Hence, on this context
it can be stated that the health literacy program should also be included with some activities
that would be helpful in the reduction of the smoking rate among the young people. On the
other hand the elderly people should also be empowered on the fact of the smoking and also
the ill effects of this habit on the cardiac system (Reilly et al., 2016). Other than all these the
health care provider or the health educator should be focusing on the vital sign record that
would clarify the condition of the people of the community in terms of the physical
conditions. The factor of the health literacy should be developed in order to eliminate or at
least reduce the rate of the smoking so that the cardiac disease would fall from the severe
amount of the present time within short amount of time (Baum & Friel, 2017). However, the
chronic disease should be addressed by the elimination of the affecting factors. Thus on this
context it can be stated that the requirement of the health empowerment or the health literacy
program would be addressed by the government also the social service providers as well. On
the other hand the factor of the reduction of the morbidity level and the mortality level the
health literacy program would be planned in terms of the time, financial condition and also
the target population beliefs (Baum et al., 2016). The factors of the intervention of the
smoking habit and also the cardiac disease the proper assessment and also the assessment of
the causes would be required. Thus the health literacy program would be helpful in the
process of the assessment and also the health literacy development in order to counter the
aspects of the ill condition (Adler, Glymour & Fielding, 2016).
Conclusion
Based on the above discussion it can be concluded that the cultural belief along with
the addictive nature of people would be the primary cause of the high mortality and morbidity

5SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
rate as well. On this context it can be stated that the factor of the health literacy would be
helpful in the process addressing the condition of the mortality rate reduction procedure by
the chronic cardiac diseases. Thus it can also be stated that the financial investment and the
proper sampling of the target population would be required for developing the proper plan of
the health literacy program. It has also been seen that the rate of smoking and also the rate of
the mortality among the Aboriginal people has been decreased with time by the
implementation of the health literacy program however, still rate is high and not satisfactory.
Hence, more effective and active health literacy program should be developed among for
addressing the situation.

6SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
References
Adler, N. E., Glymour, M. M., & Fielding, J. (2016). Addressing social determinants of
health and health inequalities. Jama, 316(16), 1641-1642. Retrieved from
https://nam.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Addressing-Social-Determinants-of-
Health-and-Health-Disparities.pdf
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2019). The health & welfare of Australia's
Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people Overview - Australian Institute of Health
and Welfare. Retrieved 8 August 2019, from
https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports-data/health-welfare-overview/indigenous-health-
welfare/overview
Baum, F., & Friel, S. (2017). Politics, policies and processes: a multidisciplinary and
multimethods research programme on policies on the social determinants of health
inequity in Australia. BMJ open, 7(12), e017772. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-
017772
Baum, F., Freeman, T., Sanders, D., Labonté, R., Lawless, A., & Javanparast, S. (2016).
Comprehensive primary health care under neo-liberalism in Australia. Social Science
& Medicine, 168, 43-52. Retrieved from
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.09.005
Einsiedel, L. J., Pham, H., Woodman, R. J., Pepperill, C., & Taylor, K. A. (2016). The
prevalence and clinical associations of HTLV‐1 infection in a remote Indigenous
community. Medical Journal of Australia, 205(7), 305-309. Retrieved from
http://dx.doi.org/10.5694/mja16.00285
Lawless, A., Lane, A., Lewis, F. A., Baum, F., & Harris, P. (2017). Social determinants of
health and local government: understanding and uptake of ideas in two Australian

7SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
states. Australian and New Zealand journal of public health, 41(2), 204-209. DOI:
10.1111/1753-6405.12584
Moore, T. G., McDonald, M., Carlon, L., & O'Rourke, K. (2015). Early childhood
development and the social determinants of health inequities. Health promotion
international, 30(suppl_2), ii102-ii115. DOI: 10.1093/heapro/dav031
Northwood, M., Ploeg, J., Markle‐Reid, M., & Sherifali, D. (2018). Integrative review of the
social determinants of health in older adults with multimorbidity. Journal of
advanced nursing, 74(1), 45-60. DOI: 10.1111/jan.13408
Reilly, R., Evans, K., Gomersall, J., Gorham, G., Peters, M. D., Warren, S., ... & Brown, A.
(2016). Effectiveness, cost effectiveness, acceptability and implementation
barriers/enablers of chronic kidney disease management programs for Indigenous
people in Australia, New Zealand and Canada: a systematic review of mixed
evidence. BMC health services research, 16(1), 119. Retrieved from
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-016-1363-0
Webb, G. L., & Williams, C. J. (2018). Factors affecting language and literacy development
in Australian Aboriginal children: Considering dialect, culture and health. Journal of
Early Childhood Research, 16(1), 104-116. DOI: 10.1177/1476718X17693417
Whalen, D. H., Moss, M., & Baldwin, D. (2016). Healing through language: Positive
physical health effects of indigenous language use. F1000Research, 5. Retrieved from
https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.8656.1

8SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH