Diabetes Incidence among the Australian Indigenous Population

Running head: DIABETES INCIDENCE 1
Diabetes Incidence among the Australian Indigenous Population
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DIABETES INCIDENCE 2
Diabetes Incidence among the Australian Indigenous Population
Diabetes ranks highly among the fastest growing chronic illnesses worldwide.
Particularly, type 2 diabetes has outstretched to alarming levels in Australia and all over the
world, thereby posing threats for public health set ups nearly everywhere. The Torres Strait
Islanders and the Aboriginal populations are mainly impacted by the alarming incidences of
diabetes and are faced with challenges when it comes to access to effective chronic care. To
many of the Torres Strait Islander and the Aboriginal, the fairly high diabetes levels highlight a
wide range of social, historical, and culturally-related determinants of health among other sets of
risk related factors.
Sadly, the most pronounced burden of disease incidence tends to fall on the disadvantage
parties and groups in the society. The Torres Strait Islander and the Aboriginal people are
victims of alarming rates of diabetes incidence. In close comparison to the non-indigenous
Australian population, their likelihood to have diabetes is three times more. According to
Kirkham et al., (2017) and Burns et al., (2016), singling out the female population, the odds are
two times high that the women from the Torres Strait Islander and the Aboriginal populations
will fall victims to gestational form of diabetes when they are closely compared to the women
from the non-indigenous Australian population. There is much evidence to suggest that the
Torres Strait Islander and the Aboriginal children are an unlucky bunch. They are about eight
times far likely to be diabetic in contrast to the children from the non-indigenous population
(Mayer-Davis et al., 2017). With the high rates of diabetes incidence, the mortality rates are
fairly high given that figures highlight that the odds of the Aboriginal and the Torres Strait
Islanders succumbing to diabetes are significantly high in contrast to the non-indigenous
Australian populations. Precisely, the odds stand at six.

DIABETES INCIDENCE 3
In line with health care, the Australian indigenous population has been in distress from as
early as colonization. Many persons fail to recognize how Australia’s colonization tale
continually impacts the wellbeing of the indigenous Australians. The history of the Aboriginals
and the Islanders dates back to as early as 1606 (Smylie & Firestone, 2015). The Aboriginals and
the Torres Strait Islander were hunters and gatherers who roamed around the land fully utilizing
the readily available resources. Their diet was largely made up of plant foods, land animals, fish,
and birds but the arrival of the European population in 1788 began to initiate lifestyle changes
(Smylie & Firestone, 2015).
The Aboriginals and the Torres Strait Islander’s traditional activities which included the
likes maintenance of familial and culturally tied practices, finding food and other resources and
spirituality changed with time. The second half of the 20th century saw adjustments to nutrition
and physical activities which partly played a part in the diabetes development on the Torres
Strait Islander and the Aboriginal populations (Burrow & Ride, 2016). After colonization, the
Australian indigenous population was subjected to disruptions in their socioeconomic element of
life thus resulted in a steady decline in its health status. The changes forced the Aboriginals and
the Torres Strait Islander into switching to the European ways of life. According to Johnson et
al., (2015), the groups abandoned their traditional way of life and reluctantly switched to those of
the colonialists. As time passed by, the indigenous Australians saw the introduction of refined
foods and sugar into their meals which make up for a couple of the risk factors tied to diabetes.
Additionally, the colonization set in motion a couple of policies, events, institutions, and
established systems that continue to affect the indigenous population today. Of course, this is in
spite of the two populations’ (the Islanders and the Aboriginals) desire to overcome the
adversity. The economic and social impact of the colonization has been evident across