Healthcare Services for Aboriginal Populations in Australia

Running head: HEALTHCARE
Topic: HEALTHCARE
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HEALTHCARE1
Introduction
A major population of the native communities in Australia comprises the
Aboriginal and Torres Islander people. The aboriginal Australians is an umbrella term
for the indigenous populations of Australia (Gee et al., 2014). They comprise only
3.1% of the total population of Australia. Various health service centers have been
constituted for locking after the specific needs of the people belonging to the
Aboriginal and Torres islander populations (Dudgeon et al. 2015). Aboriginal Medical
Services Alliance Northern Territory (AMSANT) have been considered as the peak
body mainly for the aboriginal community controlled services which is especially
located in the Northern territories (Wakerman et al., 2015). They mainly are involved
in the advocacy of provision for high quality primary health care services which are
successful in meeting the needs of the aboriginal populations.
The following assessment would focus on the services delivered by the
specific body Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory
(AMSANT), looking after the needs of the Aboriginal populations in Australia (Hunt,
2018). It would also revolve around the various policies focused around the
indigenous health communities, the social determinants of health mainly affected,
the various advantages and disadvantage of the services provided to the people and
the significance of the biomedical health model along with its impact on the
indigenous populations ultimately leading to the betterment of the health conditions
of the people (Fogarty et al., 2018).
Policies around the indigenous health, their pros and cons
Various policies have been formulated by Aboriginal Medical Services
Alliance Northern Territory (AMSANT) for the aboriginal populations of Australia.
Among various social and economic factors aimed at, there has been a policy for the
alcohol consumption and substance use in indigenous populations in Australia

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(Wikes et al., 2014). Moreover various policies have been passed addressing the
enhancement of the cultural safety among the Australian public policies. Thus
aboriginal alcohol policies and practice in Australia has been addressed (Ballie et al.,
2015). Policies regarding the concept of closing the gap have been passed for
escalating the health concerns of the indigenous and non-indigenous population in
Australia. The health services have collaborated with the national alliance for action
on alcohol (NAAA) which has been considered as health as well as community
organization all across Australia with the main goal of reducing the alcohol related
harms. Despite of the policies which has been undertaken by the organization
various barriers like language problems have not been met yet. Moreover, the rates
of young people being affected with substance use are still prevalent. (Degenhardt,
2016).
Social determinants of health affected
The most important component of a healthy community is the social
determinants of Health ( Dudgeon et al., 2014). In the case regarding the indigenous
populations of the Aboriginal and Torres Islander people in Australia, they include
the lack of access to the primary health care services in Australia and the limited
services as well as lower standards of health infrastructure revolving around the
indigenous populations inclusive of the food sanitation, hygiene levels as well as
housing capabilities of the people (Thomas, Brainbridge & Tsey, 2015). Their
socioeconomic standards has been much lower than the indigenous populations
among Australia. Over the years the health services have aimed in escalating the
various social health determinants which have affected the circumstances under
which people have been growing. They have used the health determinants as the
primary standards and indicators of their income strata, education levels and the
various levels of social support and social inclusion and increased linguistic