Health In Closing the Gap

Running head: HEALTH IN CLOSING THE GAP
Health in Closing the Gap
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Running head: HEALTH IN CLOSING THE GAP
The Australian population, according to historical data comprises of aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander people as a part of its indigenous community and their cultural strength and
resilience played a significant role in addressing the trauma inflicted upon Australia’s First
Peoples past policy. The Closing Gap Program has been functioning from 2008, its target date is
2030, and it has been seen that over the years, the gap has reduced and this was successful due to
several efforts on the part of the government (Chan, 2014). The indigenous people are living
long and the death rates are going down. The program aims at improving the situation of
inequalities in the sectors of health, employment, and education (Boyle, Zhang, & Chan, 2014).
This essay addresses the health and life expectancy differences or inequalities between
indigenous and non-indigenous Australians over the last 10 years. This paper will be analysing
the program to deal with the issue of reducing indigenous inequality.
The strategy, Closing the Gap was developed in March 2008 by the Australian
government to build a compact between the Australian government and the Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander people and attempts to bridge the inequality in health. The program found
that population and growth outcomes results from factors like racism, housing quality and access
to healthcare and these factors have to be addressed to bring about improvements in health
(Altman, Buchanan & Biddle, 2006). The close the gap strategy has incorporated the Federal
Government-supported United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People for their
right to health. An effective heath plan was not in place and there needs to be a national plan to
take care of housing and infrastructure along with sufficient resources. The strategy also focuses
on child and maternal health and takes care of chronic diseases and risks. It aims at building
primary health service infrastructure for the indigenous people. This program was abandoned
after the fifth year due to lack of architecture to support the Closing Gap Strategy. A refreshed

Running head: HEALTH IN CLOSING THE GAP
strategy is required to be formulated which would provide equal opportunity to healthcare
services and goods to both the indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. Along with this,
determinants of inequality like racism, education and income to name a few, must also be
addressed. Just like spending on the older population more than the young population seems
normal, spending more on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait population’s healthcare should also
come across as normal because according to data from the Australian Government Department
of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, there is 2.3 times higher risk for them to face diseases.
Despite this, the expenditure on per indigenous individual was $1.38 and per non-indigenous
person was $1 in 2013-2014 when the difference should have been much greater
(Commonwealth of Australia, 2018). So for most of the duration of the program duration, the
expenditure from the Australian government was not at par with the complex health needs. The
investments made have been in the wrong areas focusing more on the tertiary sectors instead of
the primary sector of health. The investment has sometimes been focused at the mainstream
population instead of the indigenous and sometimes a huge part has gone out to meet
government administrative costs. The non-indigenous part of the population depend on private
healthcare services along with the public healthcare providers to meet their health needs which
makes the situation of the indigenous population as a market failure. Private sources cannot
make up for this shortage and the Australian government has to adopt market intervention policy
with increased expenditure to as to bridge the gap in the mortality rates and life expectancy rates
between the two groups.
According to the latest data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, the
target to halve the child mortality rate gap by 2018 is on track where the indigenous child
mortality rate has declined by 35% and the gap has narrowed down by 32%. The persistent