Issues Affecting Aboriginal Community in New South Wales

This paper discusses about the political, cultural, economic and social issues affecting aboriginal community. It also focuses on the factors contributing their ill health and the common diseases experienced by these people. In this paper, I have chosen aboriginal community residing over New South Wales.

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Table of Contents
Abstract:......................................................................................................................................................2
Introduction:................................................................................................................................................2
European settlement:...................................................................................................................................3
Political issues:............................................................................................................................................3
Impact of discrimination, trauma, negative attitudes:..................................................................................3
Social issues:...............................................................................................................................................3
Economic issues:.........................................................................................................................................3
Cultural issues:............................................................................................................................................4
Factors affecting health:..............................................................................................................................4
Common diseases:.......................................................................................................................................4
Conclusion:.................................................................................................................................................4
References...................................................................................................................................................4
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Abstract:
This paper discusses about the political, cultural, economic and social issues affecting aboriginal
community. It also focuses on the factors contributing their ill health and the common diseases
experienced by these people. In this paper, I have chosen aboriginal community residing over
New South Wales.
Introduction:
Aboriginal people are considered as the first inhabitants of Australia. These are the people who
are of aboriginal descent, determined as an aboriginal individual and are acknowledged by the
community in which they live. Culture has huge significance in these communities and it
consists of several ceremonies and practices that are centered on the belief of dreaming or
dreamtime. It is carefully protected and is passed from one generation to another. It is also
significant in ill-health and health. Healthcare services are also recognizing its importance in
health improvements of aboriginals and are including culture-based treatment.
For Aboriginal Australians dreaming or dreamtime signifies the period when Ancestral sprits
proceeded over the land and formed life and significant geographic physical formations and sites.
Dreaming describes the origin of the world and working of humanity and nature (Alderdice,
2014). It structures and shapes life by the understanding and regulation of family life, obligations
to individuals and relations between genders, spirits and lands. dreaming allows them to know
their place in nature and traditional society and links their past spiritual world with the present as
well as future.
Law also plays significant role as it ensures the access to justice and helps to prevents violence.
They also assist to determine solutions to systematic issues in the justice system on the basis of
their cultural knowledge and local experiences. Effective law also helps to provide them with
basic human rights and decrease inequality and discrimination.
In aboriginal community kinship is an important system as it determines how individuals relate
to one another and their obligations, responsibilities and roles in relation to each other, ritual
business and land. It also determines ceremonial relationships, behavioral patterns with another
kin, funeral roles and who marries who (Kingsley & Townsend, 2013). It is an essential part of
entire social organization. In this community personal names are hardly used and individuals are
addressed by kinship terms. This system does not only set out the obligations and rights but it
also provides people with a guide to their own behavior. It also provides them confidence so that
the expected behavior of other people whom they might see is also expectable.
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European settlement:
The aboriginal people were highly affected by the European settlement. They were exposed to
several new violent conflicts and diseases that led to high number of deaths (Desai, 2015). Those
who were not killed were traumatized by this and affected their future generations as well.
Many children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander were separated from their
families by Australian government which is known as stolen generation or stolen children. It had
huge negative impact on both families and children. The people from stolen generations mostly
suffer from loneliness, loss of identity, low self-esteem, mistrusting others, legal issues,
problems to find religious beliefs, intergenerational traumas, incapable of managing
relationships, abuse, loss of culture, loss of land etc. Due to loss of land and culture in past
resulted in drastic decrease in their population. Many of them were killed and died because of
malnutrition. These incidents still have impact on today’s aboriginal people. Many aboriginals
are still traumatized and are vulnerable to mental health issues. They face difficulty to take any
role in the spiritual and cultural life of their communities. They also do not know anything about
their culture and their traditional lands
There are several political, social, cultural or historical and economic issues that have huge
impact on the aboriginal community.
Political issues:
Due to lack of proper policies and human rights they face several problems. They are the victims
of high levels of racism. They are socially excluded from mainstream and elite power structures.
These factors have huge impact on their health outcome causing a huge gap in health outcome
between aboriginals and other Australians (Markwick, et al., 2014). They even face
discrimination and inequalities while accessing healthcare and community services, lack of
employment opportunities, biased criminal justice system etc.
Impact of discrimination, trauma, negative attitudes:
Discrimination, exclusion, negative attitudes and trauma gives rise to issues like mental health
problems increases criminal activity, substantial abuse, domestic or family violence, lack of
involvement in social activities etc.
Social issues:
Social issues include domestic violence, assaults, illiteracy, unemployment, substantial abuse,
rape etc. women are high vulnerable to domestic violence, rape and assaults. These issues affect
the mental as well as physical health of these people. It reduces their health outcomes, life
expectancy; increases morbidity and mortality rate, and also increases child abuse, suicidal rates,
alcohol abuse etc.
Economic issues:
Due to economic issues like financial crisis, low income, poor socio-economic etc. they often
face financial hardship, social isolation, crime, debt, family breakdown, homelessness. They
even encounter problems to access healthcare facilities, school and college facilities for their
children due to high cost (Taylor, 2010).
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Cultural issues:
Cultural and language barriers lead to the health inequity among Australian aboriginals. Due to
lack of culture-based healthcare services in many healthcare centers they don’t seek medical help
and instead engage in their traditional treatment (Li, 2017). They also suffer from higher rate of
child and infant mortality, age standardized deaths and low birth weight due to cultural
differences.
Factors affecting health:
There are several risk factors that contribute to the health issues in aboriginal people which
includes: lack of accessibility to healthcare services, poverty, unemployment, breastfeeding
practices, tobacco use by pregnant women, dependency ratios, single parent families, drug and
alcohol abuse, gender, trauma, racism, dietary behaviors, body weight, level of physical
activities, unsafe sexual contacts etc. (Waterworth & Pescud, 2015).
Common diseases:
These people are more likely to have health issues like respiratory diseases, cardiovascular
diseases, mental health issues, chronic kidney disease and diabetes. Due to issues like trauma,
loss and grief, violence, poverty, discrimination they suffer from mental health problems like
depression, dementia etc.
Health issues like diabetes, obesity, constant infections, sexually transmitted diseases,
pneumonia, rheumatic heart disease, rheumatic fever, dental health problems, blinding cataract,
physical disability are also common among these people (Kowanko, et al., 2011). Chronic
kidney disease is one of the common health issue that affects aboriginal people. kidney failure
and issues are common among elderly aboriginals.
Conclusion:
It is evident that aboriginal people give utmost importance to their culture and traditions. They
are at greater disadvantage in comparison to non-aboriginal people. Their culture involves
ceremonies and practices based on the belief of dreaming. Due to European settlement they are
still suffering causing mental health problems, lack of identity etc. They face several social,
political economic and cultural issues which has huge impact on their community. Hence, the
government should develop and implement effective polices so that it addresses all the issues of
these group of people.
References
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Alderdice, J. L., 2014. The Nightmare for Aboriginal People and its Relation to Dreamtime.
International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies, 11(3), pp. 217-229.
Desai, H., 2015. The Effect of Colonization on the Aboriginal People's Culture and Religion.
Diffusion- The Uclan Journal of Undergraduate Research, 8(2).
Kingsley, J. & Townsend, M., 2013. Developing an Exploratory Framework Linking Australian
Aboriginal Peoples’ Connection to Country and Concepts of Wellbeing. International Journal of
Environmental Research and Public , 10(2), p. 678–698.
Kowanko, I., Helps, Y., Harvey, P. & Battersby, M., 2011. Chronic Condition Management
Strategies in Aboriginal Communities. [Online]
Available at: http://www.flinders.edu.au/medicine/fms/sites/FHBHRU/documents/publications/
CCM%20Aboriginal%20Communities%20Report-WEB1.pdf
[Accessed 22 June 2018].
Li, J., 2017. Cultural barriers lead to inequitable healthcare access for aboriginal Australians and
Torres Strait Islanders. Chinese Nursing Research, 4(4), pp. 207-210.
Markwick, A., Ansari, Z. & Sullivan, 2014. Inequalities in the social determinants of health of
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People: a cross-sectional population-based study in the
Australian state of Victoria. International Journal for Equity in Health, 13(19), pp. 1-12.
Taylor, J., 2010. Contemporary management issues for Aboriginal Community Controlled
Health Services. Australian Health Review, 24(3), pp. 25-132.
Waterworth, P. & Pescud, M., 2015. Factors Influencing the Health Behaviour of Indigenous
Australians: Perspectives from Support People. [Online]
Available at: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0142323
[Accessed 22 June 2018]
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