Aboriginal Health

Running head: ABORIGINAL1
Aboriginal Health
Name of student
Institution affiliation
Date

ABORIGINAL2
Introduction
Indisputably the government policies for the last couple of decades have contributed
unanimously in the health sector. The essay will identify such policies with the chief focus on
the Australian indigenous young people aged 10-24 years. Example of such policy put into
consideration is the policy of Assimilation 1961. Rendering to Hasluck (1961), the policy of
assimilation indicates that all the aborigines and part aborigines are expected to have equal rights
and custom of living as other non-native Australian living as members of the Australian
community. The term Aboriginal was a term coined in 1788 by the British settlers who invaded
the Australian continent to refer collectively to the group of people whom they found inhabiting
the land. The arrival of European settlers in the 18th century greatly degraded the living condition
and health for the aboriginals. According to Bestand Fredericks (2017), the natives become
victims of health deterioration mainly due to morbidity, poor hospitalization and invasion of
chronic and infectious diseases. Nurses who practised among the Aboriginals and Torres Strait
Islander have long identified the vital need of health revolution for the indigenous people.
Pre-invasion of the health status of Australian indigenous young people
Before the British invasion, the Aboriginals was a strong race of Australian indigenous
who practiced hunting and gathering. Their active lifestyle kept them healthy with little
preference for infectious and communicable infections. They heavily relied upon their
connection to land and dependence into tradition doctors and linking to their ancestors. Their
land provided necessities, plant and herbs that promoted their health. After the invasion Blyton,
(2009), attests the life expectancy for the Aboriginals was only forty years dwarfed by that of the
British. The British displaced them from their lands and forced them to change their lifestyle.

ABORIGINAL3
Current health status of Australian indigenous young peoples and how it contrasts their
representation of health
Aboriginal people contribute to only approximately 3.1% of the Australian Population.
The health status for the Aboriginals is still decimated. There is a high preference for
communicable and infectious diseases among the Aboriginals compared to other Australians.
HIV/AIDS is also high among the Aboriginals as well as mortality and lowered life expectancy
rates. Australia continues to experience a wide difference of up to 20 years of the average life
expectancy between the indigenous and the non-indigenous communities. Despite various
efforts to improve their health status, it is still inferior to that of an average non-indigenous.
However, there have been a few notable improvements. Remarkably, there has been a reduced
rate of infant mortality, and general health improvement among the group. The mortality rate in
men has also slightly declined.
The intent of the Assimilation policy of 1961
The assimilation policy was a policy of absorbing the native Aboriginal People into the
dominating white society. Rendering to Hasluck (1961), a conference involving the
Commonwealth officials and State ministries was conducted at Australian Capital on 26-27
January 1961 to discourse on the welfare of the Australian Aboriginals. The conference
discussed various health agendas for the native people; the policy aimed in the provision of
improved health care for the natives improved hygiene and living standards and encouraging the
nomadic and semi-nomad natives adopt a more settled way of life to better access to health care.
The aboriginals for the first time were also able to access free medical care.

ABORIGINAL4
Links between the intent of Assimilation Policy of 1961 and the present health status of
the Australian indigenous young people on the following topics;
a. Australian indigenous young peoples and identity and racism (400)
Race of the Australian indigenous young people
Modern definition defines the Australian indigenous young people as Aboriginals who
were the first inhabitants of current Australia. The group comprises of the diverse Aboriginal
nation each with their language and traditions. This definition stresses the ancestry origin for the
people who initially dominated mainland Australia and Tasmania before the British invasion in
the 18th century. After the British settlement in the Australian continent, Racial conflict among
the native and not native arose as a result of the exploitation of their land (Essays, UK.,
November 2018). Assimilation Policy lastly granted the Australian indigenous young people full
identity as members of the Australian community which gave them equal right with other non-
indigenous Australians it gave them full access to the mainstream to access medical treatments
that were previously denied to them on basis of their race. After the development of the
Assimilation policy, a tribunal mainly composed of the Commonwealth Government was set to
review the effects of the policy. The decreasing tread for the Aboriginal population had slowed
and the population for the young population had begun to sprout mainly because of improved
health.
Identity Australian of indigenous young people in relation to Assimilation Policy
While most of the Assimilation Policy took shape, sections of the policy begun to be
questioned. The policy had an account of the Aboriginal culture and way of life; the basic
assumption being that they will adapt to ways and cultures of the non-native group. In the recent
past, the policy has been based on crises for the fundamental right of the Aboriginals to maintain