ABORIGINES AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER ARTICLE 2022

Running Head: ABORIGINES AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDERS
HEALTH VULNERABILITY OF ABORIGINES AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDERS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

1ABORIGINES AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDERS
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Social Determinants of Health.....................................................................................................2
Health Inequalities.......................................................................................................................3
Health Inequities..........................................................................................................................4
Health Outcomes.........................................................................................................................5
Health Disparity...............................................................................................................................6
Relevant Evidences......................................................................................................................6
Impact on Health..........................................................................................................................8
National Plan for Elder Abuse in Aborigines..................................................................................9
Recommendation.............................................................................................................................9
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................12

2ABORIGINES AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDERS
Introduction
Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (ATSI) are the indigenous community of
Australia, who are the natives of the country since time immemorial. As they have a tribal
history, this community has always been behind in every aspect be it literacy, economy, health,
privileges, equities and other such factors which signifies the prosperity of any community.
Social Determinants of Health
The social determinants of health are visible in every community who are backward and
do not get any benefits from the society or the government. In the same way, the Aborigines and
Torres Strait Islanders of Australia have quite a number of social determinants of health such as
employment conditions, education, income, housing issues, social relationships, poverty and the
distribution of power and resources. This type of issues can make them indulge into smoking,
alcohol consumption, mental health issues, illiteracy, social anxiety, negative diet alterations,
lack of health awareness, physical health deterioration, prone to infectious diseases. In addition,
ATSI are the indigenous community so they also suffer from extreme racism that can lead them
into stress, which can cause mental illnesses, substance abuse and other such anti-social activities
and this can reduce the access to healthcare. Especially the Aborigines living in the crowded
areas of the city can face more health issues such as ear and eye infection and other ill health as it
has higher chances of spreading infection. A high incarceration rate can also reduce the health
standards of this community (Zannettino, 2015). The processes of Colonisationis the cause of
disempowerment for this community and underpinning the inequities, seen in access to social
determinants of health, and contribute to on-going stress. Improving the health status of the
indigenous community is the prime agenda for the Australian government, but even after that, a

3ABORIGINES AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDERS
wide gap is seen between the health status of ATSI and non-indigenous population of Australia.
In addition, United Nations Committee has taken a note on this issue as a Human Rights Concern
and the Australian Government has acknowledged this (Humanrights.gov.au, 2019). The social
determinants theory proves that the issue of health and inequality is the cause of many
interconnected social factors, and this needs to be taken into consideration when looking after the
effects of health social determinants.
Health Inequalities
Health Inequalities is prevalent in Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, as they do not
get many benefits from the government regarding healthcare. Therefore, they are backward in
the health sector and suffer from many health issues due to the socio-economic condition.
Disparities in health conditions between ATSI people and their non-ATSI counterparts are seen
by the World Health Organization (WHO) to be an extreme. In 2010-2012, the life expectancy
for the ATSI population group is estimated to be 10.6 years less than that of the non-ATSI
population in males and 9.5 years lesser in females. The Non-communicable diseases is the cause
of health gap that is 70%, leading with (12%) of mental disorders, diabetes (12%), (23%) of
cardiovascular disease and (9%) of chronic respiratory diseases. It is necessary to close the gap
between the health disparities between indigenous and non-indigenous population, as the history
of Aborigines and Torres Strait islanders is a factor for the inequality. The history of Aborigines
had a plethora of massacres that led to communicable diseases. During 1850, only 10% of the
ATSI population were found alive. ATSI people were disposed of from their lands and were sent
into reserves or missionaries. Government intervention policies ignored the wholesome
destruction of communities and families through the massacre of their children, and that is
known as `stolen generations ́ (Markwick, Ansari, Sullivan, Parsons & McNeil, 2014). The