Alcohol Related Diseases and Trauma among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in Australia

Running head: HEALTHCARE
HEALTHCARE
Name of the student
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HEALTHCARE
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Nature of the health problem...........................................................................................................2
Population affected..........................................................................................................................3
Magnitude of the health problem.....................................................................................................3
Proximal and distal determinants of the health problem.................................................................6
Additional features of the targeted population................................................................................7
Requirement of the public health intervention strategy...................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................9

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HEALTHCARE
Introduction
The high risk related to the consumption of alcohol leads to physical harm. Excessive
intake of alcohol is generally associated with the social challenges and health problems among
the aboriginal community people in Australia. The incidents of the alcohol related diseases and
trauma among the aboriginal and the Torres Strait islander community residing in the northern
territory of Australia is one of the highest among the world (Jayaraj et al., 2012). Excessive
health challenges and physical issues are connected to the misuse related to the consumption of
alcohol. This report aims to focus over the alcohol related disease and trauma within the
aboriginal and Torres strait islander people in Australia and draws attention towards the urgent
requirement for the preventive approaches related to health for addressing this particular critical
health issue.
Nature of the health problem
Long and excessive consumption of alcohol has been targeted as the contributor to one of
the major risk factors for the conditions related to the disease of liver functioning, the heart
disease, pancreatitis, stoke, cancer and obesity among the aboriginal community people in
Australia. In the community of aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people, the tendency and the
practice of binge drinking contributes towards the tremendous health challenges, injuries and
death for the reason of violence, suicide, accidents and falls. The disruption of the liver function
and the function of the pancreas furthermore affects the daily family life of the aboriginal
community people. According to Katzenellenbogen et al. (2015) per capita consumption of
alcohol and the attributable death rates due to the consumption of alcohol are marked the highest
and the alcohol attributable hospitalizations are more than twice the probable national rate.

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HEALTHCARE
Population affected
The northern territory of Australia is generally acclaimed for the unique fauna and flora
and the pristine out backed wildness. The population and the aboriginal community of people
residing in this particular territory is one of the most affected population. The most common
alcohol related diseases and health challenges has been reported from this particular section of
the state. As per the reports of the health survey, more than 26% of the aboriginals of Australia
of the age 15 years and over and addicted to alcohol and tobacco smoking. Furthermore the
report highlighted the percentage of pregnant women consuming alcohol among aboriginal
community leading to decline of their health and their child (Munro, Allan & Shakeshaft, 2017).
Over the period 2008-2016 in Australia, it has been reported that more number of aboriginal
males died from the alcohol related disease which is 5 times more than the rate of the non-
indigenous males. Apart from the adults , the reports from the health survey of Australia reveled
the rate of alcohol related disease affecting the teens and the children who are also the victim of
the excessive intake or consumption of alcohol.
Magnitude of the health problem
The health impacts of excessive consumption of alcohol are generally evident in both the
morbidity and the mortality statistics. The reports and the statistics related to the alcohol related
disease are epidemiological data that revealed that there more than 9,997 hospitalizations of the
aboriginal community people residing in Australia with the main reason of the health challenges
due to alcohol consumption (Gray et al., 2017). The rate of the disease are higher in the remote
areas of the northern territory as compared to the other parts of the country. Furthermore the
aboriginal males were under diagnosis at 5 times rate as compared to the non-indigenous males.