Chronic Kidney Disease among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People

This essay discusses the chronic kidney disease faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, its impact on demographic, social and cultural factors, and effective healthcare strategies for improving their condition.

Running Head: First People’s Health 0
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Health Condition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
Chronic Kidney Disease
8/6/2018

First People’s Health 1
Introduction
Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people lives in different parts of the Australia. These
people speak different types of languages and they belong to several descent groups. Their
health conditions are different from the people living in the Torres Strait. The social and
physical environment in which these people are residing plays a key role in determining
whether their life is free from the relatively serious diseases. These indigenous people in
Australia are suffering from the chronic, social dislocation and the ‘new’ infectious diseases.
These peoples suffer the economic disadvantage, due to their unemployment and lower
education. These factors are responsible for the chronic health problems among the indigenous
people. There is huge difference between the health of the indigenous and the non-indigenous
Australians. Chronic diseases are causing many deaths in Australia. This is the biggest health
challenge that the Australians currently facing. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people
face the diseases like Diabetes, cardiovascular disease and kidney diseases. These diseases
results in the increasing number of deaths among the Torres Strait islander people. In this essay,
the discussion will be on the chronic kidney diseases faced by the Abnormal and Torres Strait
islander people. The impact of the social, cultural and demographic factors on the health of the
islander people is also discussed. The health care strategy that is effective for improving the
conditions of the Torres Strait islander people facing the chronic kidney problem are discussed
in this essay (Australian Government, 2011).
The health problem that is faced by Abnormal and Torres Strait islander People is the Chronic
Kidney Disease. This disease is the serious health problem faced by the indigenous people
living in Australia. The people suffering with this disease are at the end stage of kidney disease
and these people suffer serious health issues and depressed life quality. Torres Strait islander
people are at the alarming stage of chronic kidney disease. The health of these people is poor as
compared to other Australians. This disease is the main cause of death among the Indigenous
people living in remote areas. The major reasons of the chronic kidney disease among the
indigenous Australians are Glomerulonephritis, diabetes and hypertension. Poor nutrition,
depression, protein disorder, high blood pressure and repeated infections are the other problems
faced by these people, which leads to the end stage kidney disease among the indigenous
Australians. Government policies prevailing in Australia are the reason that leads to the limited
access to medical care to the indigenous people. Management, control and prevention of the
kidney disease among the indigenous are not only depend on the acceptable and effective
treatment but on the preventive steps to improve the socioeconomic economic conditions of the
Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people (AIHW, 2017).
Chronic kidney disease impact on the demographic, social and cultural factors on the Aboriginal
and Torres Strait islander people are:
Demographic factors:

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Population: In 2014, 7,13,600 people living in Australia re Aboriginal and Torres strait islander
people. In 2011, the people living in the Torres Strait Island are 10% of the total population of
Australia. The changes in the population of Australia are due to the levels of migration, deaths
and births.
Age: The indigenous people living in Australia are younger than the normal people living in
Australia are. The rate of fertility and deaths are higher among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait
islander people (NCBI, 2016).
Cultural factors:
The culture of the indigenous and non-indigenous Australians is not similar. People living in the
urban areas and remote areas are different in terms of culture, language, religion. The training
programs for the individuals working with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people leads
towards the development of the historical and cultural attitudes. This program helps in
understanding the factors of the cultural safety of the indigenous populations of Australia
(Australian National University, 2017).
Social factors:
Chronic kidney diseases affected the social and economic conditions of the Aboriginal and
Torres Strait islander people. These diseases lead to the lack of nutrition, poor health of the
people living in the remote areas of Australia. The indigenous populations are generally the
lower class people of Australia.
Effective health care strategies for improving the chronic kidney disease among the indigenous
Australians are necessary to adopt. The strategies such as blood pressure control and diabetes
control are necessary for preventing the kidney diseases (Australian Human Rights Commission,
2007).
Controlling the Diabetes:
The basic step in preventing the chronic kidney disease is controlling the diabetes among the
individual. It is necessary for the individuals to check the blood glucose level on a monthly basis.
The results will help in taking decisions about the physical activity, medicines and food.
Diabetes is the main reason behind the kidney disease and these testes helps in tracking the
damage or changes in the kidney of individuals. Regular exercise is necessary for preventing the
diabetes among the individuals. Exercise includes aerobic exercise, walking daily for 30 minutes,
flexibility exercise and strength training (Diabetes Australia, 2015). For the treatment of
diabetes, the following people should be the part of the team involved in the treatment of
diabetes:
Doctor: It is necessary for the individual to go for the routine checkups to the doctor, in order to
keep their diabetes in control.

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Registered dietitian: Dietitian is a nutrition and food expert. They help the individual in creating
a healthy diet plan for improving the level of diabetes.
Diabetes educator: Diabetes educator are the person who educate people about the ways to
manage and handle their diabetes,
Pharmacist: They educate people about their medicine and prescribe them about the use of
medicine. The basic job of these people is to examine the medicines to prevent the unsafe
combinations and the side effects of the prescribed medicines.
To improve the diabetes level individuals should follow these things like, they should choose
water, tea and coffee instead of carbonated sugary drinks like coco cola and Pepsi, they should
add nuts, fish and whole grains in their meal and they should avoid alcohol and smoking
(Cleveland Clinic, 2014).
Health perspective of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
The indigenous people living in the remote areas of Australia are facing the problem of
inequality in health conditions as compared to Non-indigenous people of Australia. Health Care
practitioner from Australia should interact with these people to identify the health problem they
are facing. Majority of the health professionals do not identify the problem they are facing, due
to the difference in the culture of these people and other Australians. The burden of disease
among these Aboriginal Australians is three times greater than the disease among the Normal
Australians. The reasons behind the inequality of health among these people are the unequal
access to the health care, decreased standard of health, unhealthy food, and reduced sanitation
process. The number of deaths among these indigenous Australian is more than the deaths in
non-indigenous Australians. Poor education, unemployment, smoking and the increase in the
deaths of infant are also the reason behind the inequality in health conditions, as poor education
results in the lack of health information, smoking leads to the decrease in the socio-economic
status of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people and the unemployment results in the
decrease in their purchasing capacity (ClinEdAus, 2018).
Recommendations on improving the health condition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander people:
It is very important to identify the needs of the aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people to
improve their poor health problems. According to me, there are many steps that helps in
improving the chronic health condition of these people in Australia
Controlling blood pressure and the Diabetes level is necessary for preventing the individuals
from the chronic health disease in Australia. The Australian government should provide them
free checkup facility in order to prevent them from the chronic diseases. The indigenous people
living in the remote areas of Australia are facing poor health condition due to lack of proper food

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and nutrition as compared to non-indigenous Australians. I suggest that Australian Government
should work towards improving their health condition, providing them education, housing and
economic opportunities to these people (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney
diseases, 2018).
Proper education and training should be provided to the individuals living in the Aboriginal and
Torres Strait islands about the consumption of the food and medicine that prevent them from the
diabetes, blood pressure problem.
We should focus on the weight of the infants as the death among the infants is increasing day by
day. For improving this, we need safe assessment and the appropriate interventions to improve
the health of the infants. Trained health practitioner is required in these remote areas for
providing effective treatment to the people living there (Kids Matter, 2018).
There is a need to focus on the social determinants prevailing in these areas such as improving
unemployment, education, housing and improving the lifestyle of the people living in remote
areas of Australia. We should focus on the risk deduction and the prevention of the chronic
disease among the indigenous people in Australia.
The midwives should work with the new and the pregnant mothers in the remote areas between
the larger communities of indigenous people, and the midwife that is providing consistent care to
these women should be transferred to the regional centers in these remote areas. This service
helps in improving fetal health at the time of pregnancy and reduces the miscarriages among the
women in the remote areas (Harvard T.H. CHAN, 2018).
According to me, the establishment of the chronic disease practitioner along with the enhanced
data monitoring and trained governance helps in improving the quality of life of the diseased and
poor people living in the remote areas of Australia (The Conversation, 2013).
Conclusion
This can be concluded from the above discussion that the Chronic Kidney disease among the
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is posing a serious threat on the lives of people
living in these remote areas. The culture and social environment of these indigenous people is
different from the non-indigenous people living in Australia. The living conditions and the
economic status of these people is very poor because of chronic diseases like diabetes, kidney
disease and several infectious disease are prevailing in the remote areas of Australia. The death
rate in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people is more than the death rate in the
Australia. Different health care practitioner and service provider visit these remote areas but due
to the difference in the culture, it becomes difficult for them in understanding the health
problems these people are facing. In this essay, the discussion is on the problem of chronic

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kidney disease among these indigenous people and the ways for controlling the kidney disease.
The basic step in controlling the chronic kidney disease is controlling the diabetes of the people
living in the remote areas. These people are facing inequality in their health condition as
compared to other Australians. The reasons behind the inequality are the poor social and
economic condition, lack of education and unemployment. The government in Australia focuses
on improving their condition but due to the major cultural differences, it becomes difficult for the
health care provider in rendering health care services, which reduces the conditions of inequality
of heath conditions.
References
AIHW. (2017) Chronic Kidney Disease Consumption. [online] Available from:
https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/chronic-kidney-disease/chronic-kidney-disease-compendium/
contents/how-many-australians-have-chronic-kidney-disease [Accessed 06/08/2018]
Australian Government. (2011) Chronic Kidney disease in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
people. [online] Available from:
https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/chronic-kidney-disease/chronic-kidney-disease-indigenous-
australians/contents/summary [Accessed 06/08/2018]
Australian Human Rights Commission. (2007) Social determinants and the health of indigenous
peoples in Australia- a human rights based approach. [online] Available from:
https://www.humanrights.gov.au/news/speeches/social-determinants-and-health-indigenous-
peoples-australia-human-rights-based [Accessed 06/08/2018]
Australian National University. (2017) Do cultural factors affect the health of Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander communities?. [online] Available from: http://www.anu.edu.au/news/all-
news/do-cultural-factors-affect-the-health-of-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander [Accessed
06/08/2018]
Cleveland Clinic. (2014) Your Best Strategies for preventing Diabetets. [online] Available from:
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/key-strategies-for-preventing-diabetes/ [Accessed 06/08/2018]
ClinEdAus. (2018) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Culture. [online] Available from:
http://www.clinedaus.org.au/topics-view/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-culture-123
[Accessed 06/08/2018]

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Diabetes Australia. (2015) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. [online] Available from:
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Harvard T.H. CHAN. (2018) Simple Steps to Preventing Diabetes. [online] Available from:
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Kids Matter. (2018) Understanding Aboriginal concepts of health. [online] Available from:
https://www.kidsmatter.edu.au/health-and-community/enewsletter/aboriginal-concepts-health
[Accessed 06/08/2018]
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney diseases. (2018) Managing Chronic
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NCBI. (2016) working at the interface in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health: focusing
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[Accessed 06/08/2018]
The Conversation. (2013) Improving Aboriginal health and well-being: a view from the north.
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