Indigenous Health Service

This article provides an overview of the Danila Dilba Health Service, a community-controlled indigenous health service in the Yilli Rreung region. It discusses the reasons behind its establishment, the external factors that influenced it, and the services provided by the organization. The impact of these services on the Australian aboriginal community is also explored.

Running head: INDIGENOUS HEALTH SERVICE
INDIGENOUS HEALTH SERVICE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note:

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction:............................................................................................2
2. General overview of the health service profile for the indigenous
people:........................................................................................................2
2.1 Health service profile:........................................................................2
2.2 Reason behind the establishment of this health service:...................2
3. External factors which have influenced the establishment of this health
service:........................................................................................................3
3.1 Historical influence:............................................................................3
3.2 Influence of Social determinants:.......................................................4
4. Services provided by ‘Danila Dilba Health Service’ and the impact of
these services in the Australian aboriginal community:..............................4
4.1 Impact of Aboriginal Medical Service on indigenous community:......4
4.2 Impact of Danila Dilba Health Service on indigenous community:.....5
5. Conclusion:..............................................................................................5
References:.................................................................................................6

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1. Introduction:
It has been noted voraciously in the recent academic research paper
that there is a significant gap between the health services received by
indigenous and non- indigenous Australians and various health services
have established to reduce the gap in inequality (Markwick et al., 2014).
Therefore, the health service is chosen for this assignment is the ‘Danila
Dilba Health Services’.
2. General overview of the health service profile for the
indigenous people:
2.1 Health service profile:
Danila Dilba Health Service is an organisation controlled by
aboriginal community which provides comprehensive primary health care
services. This health care service is particularly focussed on the ‘Biluru’
people in the Yilli Rreung region also known as greater Darwin in the
Northern Territory (Ddhs.org.au, 2019). The primary goal of this health
care service is to enhance and improve the mental, physical, cultural,
spiritual, and social well- being of the people belongs to the Biluru
community (Ddhs.org.au, 2019). The objectives of this health care service
is to provide community service, health care programs, advocacy to these
people in order to improve their overall health quality index based on the
principle of the empowerment, access, equity, collaboration and
community self-determination. Danila Dilba established as a community
controlled indigenous health service in the year of 1970’s when there was
a great activism for the indigenous people all over the Australia
(Ddhs.org.au, 2019). However, ‘Danila Dilba Health Services was founded
in the year of 1991 with a great sense of belonging and pride among the
native aboriginal community (Ddhs.org.au, 2019).
2.2 Reason behind the establishment of this health service:
From the statistics provided by the Australian Institute of Health and
Welfare, it can be seen that there is a significant gap in the health
services received by the aboriginal Australians. It has been presented that

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aboriginal Australians are 2.3 times more prone to burden of disease in
comparison with the non- aboriginal Australians (Australian Institute of
Health and Welfare, 2019). It has been argued in the report that the 37
per cent of disease burden among the aboriginal Australians can be
prevented by only reducing the exposure to the risk factors such as
physical inactivity, poor diet, and use of tobacco (Australian Institute of
Health and Welfare, 2019). Among them, 19 per cent of the disease
caused by the substance abuse or mental health (Australian Institute of
Health and Welfare, 2019). Thence, it can be seen that there is no single
cause of inequality health among the aboriginal Australians and in order
to improve the situation a holistic approach is required which will cover
every facet of this malevolent conditions. In this regard, Danila Dilba
Health Services is particularly effective as they also health advocacy to
the aboriginal community in addition to the primary health care services.
The services that have been provided the Dalina Dilba Health Services are
‘Alcohol and other drugs’, ‘Deadly Choices’, ‘Care Co- ordination’, ‘Social
and Emotional Well- being’, ‘Tackling Tobacco and Healthy Life styles’ and
‘Don Dale youth support’ (Ddhs.org.au, 2019).
3. External factors which have influenced the establishment of
this health service:
3.1 Historical influence:
There are many external factors like socio- economic, cultural,
access to the primary health care centres which have influenced the
establishment of the health care centres. From the discussion in the
above section, it can be seen that Danila Dilba Health services have
begun their journey in the 1970s when there was activism going on in the
Australia (Stastny & Orr, 2014). The main sparking point for the inception
was that the cyclone Tracy which was hit in the year 1974 (Ddhs.org.au,
2019). In the aftermath of the cyclone, many indigenous people were
evacuated which were in dire need of medical services. In that scenario
the aboriginal medical service had been started. The indigenous populace
in the Darwin region were so much impressed with the services that they

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wanted an aboriginal medical services of their own. As a direct
consequence of that phenomena, inception of Danila Dilba was founded.
After that, Danila Dilba grew out of the community and started a holistic
culturally competent service for the aboriginal people in the Darwin region
at Northern territory (Ddhs.org.au, 2019).
3.2 Influence of Social determinants:
In addition to that, there are ever present factor like socio-
economic and cultural issues which were very much important for the
inception of this service (Mitrou et al., 2014). It has been established in
the earlier section that there is significant gap in the health quality index
for the aboriginal people in comparison with the non- aboriginal people.
The the ‘Biluru’ people in the Yilli Rreung region (greater Darwin) were no
exception to this scenario and the great activism for the aboriginal people
was started due to this reason. Therefore, the deprivation in these aspect
(health quality index, cultural difference, lack of cultural competent health
care service, and access to the primary helath care centre) has led to the
establishment of this service in the area of greater Darwin (Mitrou et al.,
2014).
4. Services provided by ‘Danila Dilba Health Service’ and the
impact of these services in the Australian aboriginal community:
4.1 Impact of Aboriginal Medical Service on indigenous
community:
From the statistics presented in the Australian Institute of Health
and Welfare, it can be seen that the smoking rate among the indigenous
people have fell to 42 percent in the year 2014 -15 in comparison with the
51 percent in 2002 (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2019). It
has also been noticed that there is a 33 per cent fall in mortality rate
recorded in the year 2015 among the indigenous children in comparison
with mortality rate in 1998 (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare,
2019). Thus, from the above discussion, it is fair to say that the Aboriginal
medical service has played its part in reducing the gap in health quality
index among the aboriginal and non- aboriginal Australians.

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4.2 Impact of Danila Dilba Health Service on indigenous
community:
Danila Dilba Health Service also played its part in reducing this gap
among the aboriginal Australians. This health service is providing service
to this region through seven clinics (Ddhs.org.au, 2019). From a recent
individual and independent study conducted by Deloitte has shown that
the each dollar invested in this service has produced a benefit of AUS 4.18
to the society in term of health index in the community of aboriginal
people (Ddhs.org.au, 2019). Furthermore, it has also been reported that
Danila Dilba Health Service has managed to provide improved health
outcome in 80 per cent of total aboriginal population living in the greater
Darwin (Ddhs.org.au, 2019).
5. Conclusion:
Therefore, from the above discussion, it can be concluded that the
Aboriginal Medical Services like Danila Dilba Health Service have played a
significant role in reducing the gap in the health quality index among the
aboriginal and non- aboriginal Australians.

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References:
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2019). Indigenous Australians
Overview - Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Retrieved
from
https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports-data/population-groups/indigenous-
australians/overview
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2019). The health & welfare of
Australia's Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people Overview -
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Retrieved from
https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports-data/health-welfare-overview/indig
enous-health-welfare/overview
Ddhs.org.au. (2019). About us | Danila Dilba. Retrieved from
https://ddhs.org.au/about-us
Ddhs.org.au. (2019). History | Danila Dilba. Retrieved from
https://ddhs.org.au/about-us/history
Markwick, A., Ansari, Z., Sullivan, M., Parsons, L., & McNeil, J. (2014).
Inequalities in the social determinants of health of Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander People: a cross-sectional population-based
study in the Australian state of Victoria. International journal for
equity in health, 13(1), 91, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-014-
0091-5.
Mitrou, F., Cooke, M., Lawrence, D., Povah, D., Mobilia, E., Guimond, E., &
Zubrick, S. R. (2014). Gaps in Indigenous disadvantage not closing:
a census cohort study of social determinants of health in Australia,
Canada, and New Zealand from 1981–2006. BMC Public
Health, 14(1), 201, https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-14-201.
Stastny, A., & Orr, R. (2014). The influence of the US Black Panthers on
indigenous activism in Australia and New Zealand from 1969
onwards. Australian Aboriginal Studies, (2), 60, Retrieved from:

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