Ear and Hearing Problems among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians

Running head: HEALTH ISSUE 1
Health Issue
Name of Author
Institution of Affiliation
Date of Submission

HEALTH ISSUE 2
Introduction
The health of hearing and other senses of the body is a major concern for the
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians (Bainbridge et al., 2015). Senses of the body
are very important because any damage of either of them may lead to increased risk of dying,
unhealthy weight loss, and problems with staying mentally sharp. Additionally, the damage may
cause overall worsening of wellbeing, difficulties in conducting daily activities, and difficulty in
staying physically active (Abbott et al., 2016). In this essay I have decided to talk about hearing
and ear problems as that is one of the major sense problems facing the Aboriginal people and it
will represent how the health issue has affected the Aboriginal people in regards to the sensory
probems.
The health issue
One of the main sense problems concerning the indigenous people is the issue with poor
ear and hearing health. Diseases related to the ear are categorized according to the area the
disorder appears. The main ear infection affecting the indigenous people is otitis media which
affects the middle ear. A person can suffer from otitis media either due to a bacterial or viral
infection or both. Additionally, the disease can also be caused by other sicknesses such as a cold.
Otitis media is very excruciating and at most times, causes harm to the eardrum (Azzopardi et
al., 2018). Moreover, it can also cause fluid leakage from the ear. This type of fluid leakage is
known as a runny ear. Furthermore, otitis media can also cause glue ear, which is experienced
when the fluids accumulate in the middle ear without affecting the eardrum. Both glue ear and
runny can lead to hearing loss. Additionally, if otitis media is not treated immediately, it may
lead to intermittent or continuous hearing impairment. This may lead to the risk of permanent
hearing loss (Azzopardi et al., 2018). Otitis media if untreated may lead to poor education

HEALTH ISSUE 3
outcomes, unemployment, poor language development, poor behavior, and social skills.
Indigenous babies can be affected by otitis media within weeks of after they are born while a
high percentage of indigenous children will be affected by the disease throughout their
developmental years, Many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians are affected by ear
infections mainly due to poverty, nutritional problems, and crowded housing conditions.
Moreover, other factors are poor access to health care, inadequate supply of clean water, and
proper sewerage systems.
Statistics of the health issue
According to statistics conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the number of
indigenous kids suffering from hearing impairments was almost three times the number of non-
indigenous kids. The percentage rate was 8.4% to 2.9% (Bainbridge et al., 2015). The research
was conducted on children aged 1 to 14. Out of the total people affected by hearing problems, a
third had otitis media. The research was carried out from 2014 to 2016. Moreover, the research
also showed that nearly 3700 indigenous people were hospitalized because of ear problems. The
rate of hospitalization of the disease was 7.4 per 1000 people for indigenous individuals
compared to 6.4 per 1000 people for non-indigenous individuals.
Colonization
The colonization of the Aboriginal people in Australia resulted in racism, inequity, and
the interference of the culture of Aboriginal people (Dudgeon et al., 2014). The main reason why
aboriginal people cannot forget about the past is that the negative impact of colonization is still
affecting the indigenous people each day, regularly in extreme ways. The statistics above are
mainly as a result of the remaining injustices of colonization (Fogarty et al., 2018). Colonization
led to the displacement, dispossession of land from aboriginal people, violence that begin at