Assignment about Indigenous Health 2022

Indigenous Health
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Introduction
Inequalities in health and life expectancy between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians
has been a nagging problem for quite some time. The gap in life expectancy between the two
groups is approximately 10 years (Clair, Muztagh, Kelly, & Cook, 2019, p. s36). Closing the
Gap policy was formulated in 2007 to bridge this gap. In this case study, Judy a 57 year old
indigenous woman is suffering from diabetes and as RN working at UTS Community Health
Centre that does home visits, I am expected to attend my first visit. The purpose of this
assignment is to analyze closing the Gap policy in relation to an indigenous patient who is
suffering from Diabetes.
Closing the gap policy
Closing the gap policy was established back in 2007 in response to the A social justice report
published back in 2005 by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social Justice Commissioner
Tom Calma (Georges et al., 2017 p.25). The report urged the Australian Government to strive for
equality for Aboriginals in both health and life expectancy within 25 years.
In the report, the gap in life expectancy was around 10 years between Aboriginals and other
Australians. In males, the gap was 10.6 years and 9.5 years in females (Deravin, Francis, &
Anderson, 2018, p. 480). The report also noted that there was inequality in health between
Aboriginals and other Australians and the figures demonstrated that the mortality rates for age
groups below 65 years was twice as compared to the non-indigenous Australians.
The significance of the CTG policy was therefore to eliminate such inequalities through targets
such as closing the gap in life expectancy by 2031, halving child mortality by 2018, year 12
attainment by 2020 and halving the gap in employment by 2018 (Alford, 2015, p. 403). Several

building blocks were identified to achieve the set targets and they include early childhood,
schooling, health, economic participation, healthy homes and finally safe communities.
The CTG policy has experienced a series of barriers or challenges in quest to ensure equality
between aboriginals and non-indigenous Australians. First of all, transport has been an issue with
inadequate public transport services (Anikeeva, Katterl, & Bywood, 2012). The second barrier is
lack of cultural awareness as well as sensitivity in mainstream care. Other barriers include
shortage of the workforce especially in rural and remote areas. There has also been issues with
identification of indigenous patients.
Potential long term consequences of Judy’s Diabetes to 3 social determinants of health and
how they are addressed within CTG policy
Based on the case study of Judy, there are diverse consequences of Judy’s Diabetes to 3 social
determinants of health. The three common social determinants of health in question are
employment, access to health care facilities and discrimination.
From the case study, Judy has leg ulcer that has made her quit her part time job as a primary
school teacher. This has in return rendered her unemployed and it is likely to negatively affect
her health outcome. Several reports link poverty to poor health outcomes among the Aboriginals.
The issue of employment is well addressed within the CTG policy under economic development.
The policy directs employment of 65% of youths between 15 to 24 years by 2028 (McDonald,
2011, p. 652).Furthermore, the policy advocates for employment of 60% Aboriginals between 25
and 64 years by 2028. Judy therefore falls under this category since she is only 57 years old.
Secondly, Judy might be unable to get access to healthcare facilities due to her condition and the
long distance (10km) to the nearest health center. Access to health care facilities is one of the