Healthcare Issues in Australia: Challenges Faced by Aboriginal Population

This article sheds light on the healthcare issues faced by the Aboriginal population in Australia. Despite significant efforts by the Australian Government, the aborigines still face inequality in accessing healthcare services. The major barriers include cultural, social, and economic factors, along with differences in faith and beliefs regarding modern medicine and mainstream health facilities. Language is another crucial factor that hampers the delivery of healthcare services. The article concludes that the inability to deliver advanced services owing to cultural and psychographic differences is the primary reason for healthcare issues faced by the aboriginal people of Australia.

Running head: HEALTHCARE ISSUES IN AUSTRALIA
HEALTHCARE ISSUES IN AUSTRALIA
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Introduction
The aborigines are a group of Indigenous Australians comprising 3.3% of the total
Australian population. Majority of the Aborigines lives in New South Wales adopting
Christianity as their major religion (73%) alongside 24% non-religious and the rest belonging
to certain traditional aboriginal religions. Psychographic traits of aborigines regarding
modernized healthcare are not in their favour as they hold mostly neutral to negative beliefs
about them 1, 3.
Issues regarding delivery of health services
When it comes to delivering healthcare services to the aboriginal population, the
primary barrier is that of culture, social politics and economy. A few recent studies have
highlighted that despite significant efforts on the part of the Australian Government to
provide fair and equal healthcare to the aborigines, who are predominantly considered
economically, socio politically and culturally disadvantaged, the challenging issue remains
unsolved 1. The research provides evidence of existing inequality in the access to health
services of members in the group 2. It also shows that the major hurdle in providing decent
health services stem from their differences in faith and beliefs regarding modern medicine
and mainstream health facilities, since most of these people are rural residents 2. Apart from
these, another crucial factor that hampers delivery of healthcare services is that of language,
the difference of which entails ineffective communication and results in drastic failure of the
policies regarding delivery of healthcare services to the Indigenous Australian people 2.
1. Sarah Larkins et al, "Responses Of Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Primary Health-Care Services To
Continuous Quality Improvement Initiatives" (2016) 3 Frontiers in Public Health.
2. Jie-Li Li, "Cultural Barriers Lead To Inequitable Healthcare Access For Aboriginal Australians And Torres Strait
Islanders" (2017) 4(4) Chinese Nursing Research.
3. Linda M. Mobula et al, "Cultural Competence And Perceptions Of Community Health Workers’ Effectiveness For
Reducing Health Care Disparities" (2014) 6(1) Journal of Primary Care & Community Health.

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Conclusion
In conclusion, aboriginal people of Australia face healthcare issues because of the
inability to deliver advanced services owing to the cultural and psychographic differences
they have from the non-indigenous people.

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References
1. Larkins, Sarah et al, "Responses Of Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Primary
Health-Care Services To Continuous Quality Improvement Initiatives" (2016)
3 Frontiers in Public Health
2. Li, Jie-Li, "Cultural Barriers Lead To Inequitable Healthcare Access For Aboriginal
Australians And Torres Strait Islanders" (2017) 4(4) Chinese Nursing Research
3. Mobula, Linda M. et al, "Cultural Competence And Perceptions Of Community
Health Workers’ Effectiveness For Reducing Health Care Disparities" (2014)
6(1) Journal of Primary Care & Community Health