Reproductive and Sexual Health: Issues Faced by Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders in Australia

Reproductive and Sexual Health 1
REPRODUCTIVE AND SEXUAL HEALTH
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Reproductive and Sexual Health 2
Reproductive and Sexual Health
Question 1
Access to equitable medical services and healthcare for the Aboriginals and Torres
Straight Islanders has for a long time been an issue in Australia. The Australian scholarly
literature has dwelled on the same for a long time. The aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait
Islanders are groups that are considered to be culturally, politically, economically, and socially
disadvantaged. When laws, policies, and practices for eliminating indigenous cultures were
affected, the Aboriginal Australians experienced loss, trauma, and grief. Children lost love and
affection from their parents. The family, spiritual, and cultural ties were left broken and this left
an intergenerational effect on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. The notable impacts the
policies had on the Aboriginals and the Islanders were: physical and mental health problems,
being separated from their primary health care, broken families, behavioral and delinquency
problems, and racism.
The adverse effect of the separation policies was the lack of medical services, identity
loss, poor access to education, loneliness and low self-esteem among others. Many children were
separated from their parents and communities resulting in the anguish of identity search. It led to
depression, excessive alcohol consumption, and drug and substance abuse, which affected their
mental judgment. The separation also led to trauma that has been passed from generation to
generation. The trauma has also caused chronic pain among the Aboriginals and the Islanders.
Therefore, the policies for eliminating indigenous cultures affected both the physical and
psychological health of Aboriginals and the Torres Strait Islanders as well as their likeliness to
access health care (Bringing Them Home: Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Children from Their Families, 2014).