Indigenous Health Service

Indigenous health service 1
INDIGENOUS HEALTH SERVICE
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

Indigenous health service 2
Indigenous health in Australia refers to the physical, emotional and social wellbeing of
Aboriginal people of Australia. This part of the population is often referred to as indigenous and
healthcare provision is quite limited compared to the rest of the Australians. The purpose of
indigenous healthcare is to ensure that this part of the population gain improved access to
healthcare services and improve health outcomes (Browne et al, 2016). Many indigenous
Australians experience poorer health services and therefore often die of treatable diseases and
infections.
There is a high morbidity and mortality rate among the indigenous population that is
associated with poor health outcomes (Stewart, Moodley & Hyatt, 2016). Indigenous healthcare
services aim at targeting the health needs among these people in order to improve their health
outcomes. It focusses on an all-round care provision that is centered in the needs of the
population. The care provision incorporates the cultural identity of the people as well as their
beliefs in order to provide an all-round care that is satisfactory to the population. The aim of this
discussion is to critically analyze an indigenous health service and explain how it impacts the
population’s health and well-being.
Statistics show that there is a high rate of chronic conditions such as cardiovascular
diseases, chronic kidney disease and diabetes among the indigenous Australians than non-
indigenous Australians. This shows the need for health intervention measures among the
indigenous part of the population. One of the major indigenous health service delivery strategy is
to ensure there is improved access to health care among the indigenous people (Jacklin et al,
2017). Since the indigenous population resides within remote areas of the country, there is need
to improve infrastructure that promotes health seeking behavior. This is done by improving the
means of transport to health care centers and increasing health care access points within this

Indigenous health service 3
remote areas. Construction of good roads and adequate health centers is important to improve
health service delivery among the indigenous population. One of the important health service
profile in indigenous health is health promotion.
The indigenous people are mostly faced by chronic health conditions as compared to the
rest of the population. In order to curb this menace, there is need to focus on health promotion in
order to improve health outcomes among the indigenous population. For example, chronic
kidney disease whose incidence is high among the indigenous can be prevented by promoting
healthy lifestyles and habits among the population. This can be easily done by ensuring adequate
health education among the indigenous part of the population. Health care providers should
ensure that they advise their indigenous patients on how to promote their wellness and health by
instituting self-management measures (Cerón et al, 2016). In addition to this, detailed
information on the causes and preventive measures of certain chronic conditions such as kidney
failure should be made available to the public and indigenous people.
The information should be precise and easy to understand in order to ensure that the
people gain knowledge of how they can improve their health and prevent certain diseases.
Cardiovascular diseases can for example be prevented by healthy diet intake. Indigenous care
provision should always focus on ensuring that patients and the population as a whole adapt this
change so as to limit and reduce such morbidities (Gibson et al, 2015). In the case of reducing
cardiovascular diseases for example change in diet can involve low sodium intake, low fatty
foods intake and social changes such as low tobacco and alcohol intake. In addition to these,
health promoting behaviors such as exercising more often can assist bring about positive
outcomes.