Contemporary Indigenous Health and Wellbeing

This article discusses the Closing the Gap strategy (CTG) implemented by the Australian government to mitigate the challenges faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander citizens in terms of life expectancy, infant mortality, and education. It also presents a case study of a 57-year-old Aboriginal woman with type 2 diabetes and foot ulcer and how she benefited from the CTG policy. The article highlights the role of government-regulated sectors like ALO and AMS in promoting the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal citizens.

Running head: CONTEMPORARY INDIGENOUS HEALTH AND WELLBEING
Contemporary Indigenous Health and Wellbeing
Name of the student
Name of the university
Authors note

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Australian people are the one of the oldest civilizations, living for almost 65,000 years.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander are the earliest inhabitants of Australia holding unique
language and knowledge system. Recently, Australian government has implemented “Closing
the Gap strategy (CTG)” with the intension of mitigating the challenges, faced by Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander citizens in terms of life expectancy, infant mortality, development of
early childhood education, learning accomplishment, and job outcomes (Australian Indigenous
HealthInfoNet 2018). CTG is an official promise made by the government of Australia to offer
equal opportunity to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander wellbeing. During March 2008,
Government of Australia and Torres Strait Island people, signed the Indigenous health equality
summit statement of intent and through this agreement, they decided to work together to
accomplish equal opportunity in wellbeing condition of the aboriginal community
(Humanrights.gov.au. 2018).
The major aim of this pact is to enable both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people as
well as non-Indigenous Australians to avail equal opportunity in terms of education, socialization
and reduce the morbidity and mortality rate within the year of 2030 (Pruett and DiFonzo 2014).
This strategy has created provision for the aboriginal people to lead a healthy life by accelerating
the lifespan. Due to this policy, the death rates for heart attack among the aboriginal people has
also been reduced. Nowadays, there are around 14,700 children from Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander, who are engaged in the learning. These are highlighting the positive efforts of the
Australian government (Humanrights.gov.au. 2018).
According to the case study, a 57 years aged Aboriginal lady namely Judy with type 2
diabetes and suffering from leg ulcer. She has been discharged from the care home. Doctor has
advised her to take regular dressing which is highly required for lowering the wound quickly. In

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the type 2 diabetes, it becomes quite difficult to control the blood sugar. Type 2 diabetes is a
metabolic disorder that includes high blood sugar, the resistance of insulin, and presence of a low
amount of insulin. There are some common symptoms of diabetes, like increased hunger,
repeated urination and drastic weight loss. In the case of diabetes, there is a high possibility of
the formation of critical foot diseases (Diabetesaustralia.com.au. 2018). Minimal infection can be
treated with antibiotics by oral root care of the wound. Patients with sensible and brutal
infections are admitted to the hospital. Patients with diabetes should be subjected to a regular
foot test at least once in every year. In case there is a more complicated diabetic foot ulcer exists,
then a prompt foot test is required. As the patient Judy is from aboriginal community, she should
be addressed within CTG or closing the gap policy (Closingthegap.pmc.gov.au 2018). With the
assistance of closing the gap policy, effective treatment has been provided to Judy. A proficient
doctor has been assigned to Judy in order to treat her in an appropriate manner. This is the way,
through which life expectancy rate of Judy has been increased. CTG policy has also helped Judy
to access high quality of treatment, which is very much needed for preventing the chronic
disease. This is the collaborative approach, which is helping the patient like Judy along with their
family members to take part in the decision making process which is highly required to treat her
in accordance with the health related issue.
As Judy is suffering from foot ulcer, she needs to be treated properly as it is the
fundamental aim of CTG policy to promote well-being of aboriginal people. She needs regular
dressing by the hand of skillful and competent registered nurse. In diabetic leg ulcer, wound
dressings is one of the major parts of the diagnosis. After discharge, there are specific parameters
which need to be followed by the patient, and these parameters are being guided by the
registered nurse working at the community health center. To diagnose the type 2 diabetes with a

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foot infection, Judy needs to follow specific rules, like daily foot check, proper foot care which
are being performed by the the nurses. Appropriate dressing can lessen symptoms and thus
diminish the wound quickly. However, a single dressing can never cure a leg ulcer. One of the
simple, less expensive and well-recognized dressings is non-adhesive wound dressing.
(Diabetes.co.uk 2018).
Closing the Gap strategy (CTG) is one of the most significant strategies, undertaken by
Australian government to develop the health conditions of the Aboriginal people. CTG policy
provides the lifetime facilities to the Aboriginal citizens in Australia (Hunt 2013). Here the
patient Judy, 57 years old woman, is suffering from type 2 diabetes with the foot ulcer, and she
was discharged from the hospital. Being the Australian citizen, Judy has accessed all the
facilities of CTG policy as provided by Australian Government. This policy includes the
development of every Aboriginal citizen with the development of their health and wellbeing and
thereby increasing their life expectancy rate. In addition to that, CTG policy has also paved the
way for the aboriginal community to access education independently. Accessing health service in
a timely and cost effective manner is also a greatest benefit of CTG policy. According to this
policy, Judy will get every medicine at a lower price for her treatment after discharge. Here she
is undergoing a critical situation as she is suffering from type 2 diabetes. Therefore, she needs
daily dressing for the development of her health and for dressing, here is a registered nurse
required for her treatment. All these facilities will provide by the Australian government, and all
these facilities are under the CTG policies. Therefore, here Judy will get each facility for her
treatment, which is under the CTG policy for the Aboriginal people (Pmc.gov.au 2018).
After being registered on CTG, July a 57 years old Aboriginal woman, will get some
serious advantages. This program includes enhanced use of the Medicare services, which

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provides for, Medicare safety net, Schemes related to pharmaceutical benefits, Australian organ
donor register, and Australian immunization register. This program involves the presence of
Aboriginal Liaison Officers. They help the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities by
providing better service. Peoples from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders generally have the
high chance of chronic diseases. Diseases like heart disease, diabetes, asthma, cancer, arthritis
and stroke. A frequent basis of healthiness checkup is required to treat these diseases
(Rosenstock et al. 2013) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander healthiness checks should follow
via the respected doctors. An individual who registers them self for a Medicare card can access
the doctor and some health expert for a lower price. It helps the Aboriginal or Torres Strait
Islander patients, by saving their money in the blood test, save their money on medicine, help to
improve the children’s immunity (Durey 2016). An individual from the Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Island citizens, if affected by a chronic disease, or have a chance or having a chronic
disease, the CTG pharmaceutical benefits scheme helps the patient or the individual to buy the
medicine at a much lower price. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander also has a particular
facility about health care facilities known as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Access Line.
This line is ethnically alert of the critical situations that affect the Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Island citizens (Renzaho, Andre and John 2014).
ALO or Aboriginal Liaison Officers are present at the Goulburn Valley health, to offer
the psychological, communal and educational aid to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island
citizens and their families while they utilize the facilities of the hospital. It is the responsibility of
ALOs to help the citizens, to admit them in the healthcare organization and they have the target
to develop the educational information and understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander families about healthcare facilities. When patients are in the hospital, ALOs help the

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patients by providing information and support; they also help the patients for taking admission in
the hospital (Gvhealth.org.au 2018). The Aboriginal Medical Service or AMS is defined as a
health service community in Australia, and their job is to develop the wellbeing conditions of the
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island peoples. AMS was established in 1971 in Redfem. AMS
supply the free medicine to the Aboriginal citizens lived in Sydney. The primary target of this
organization is to give a response to migrant Aboriginal citizens in New South Wales (NSW)
(Diabetesaustralia.com.au 2018).
In this case, there are several reasons present, for referring the AMS and ALO to Judy.
Here, Judy is a 57 years old Aboriginal woman who needs several facilities for the improvement
of her health. The primary purpose of the formation of AMS and ALOs is to provide medical
services to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island citizens, and here Judy an Aboriginal citizen,
for this reason, she needs the service facilities of the AMS and ALO, for her improvement of
health (Parker and Milroy 2014).
According to the discussion of CTG policy in the case of Judy, it is quite evident that
there are government regulated sectors are playing significant role in the way of promoting
health and well-being of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island citizens by implementing
effective polices. Closing Gap policy is governed to develop the health status of the Aboriginal
people, and according to the survey, the literacy rate has been increased in the aboriginal people
after administering the CTG policy. However, awareness among the patients is one of the critical
barriers to implement CTG. As per the case study, Judy belongs to aboriginal community.
Therefore, the awareness regarding the benefits, which she might can from the CTG policy is
lower in her. Such lack of awareness can make it difficult for the staffs to provide effective care
to the patients like Judy as per the CTG policy. At the same time, employing indigenous staffs

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and lack of education is also a great barrier for the implementation of CTG policy within the
health and social care setting (Wu et al. 2014). There are other government bodies, present in
Australia like ALO and AMS, and they also help the Aboriginal citizens to develop their health
conditions.
From the above discussion, it can concluded that these strategies help the Aboriginal people to
develop their conditions, for the purpose of health treatment. Here the Aboriginal patient Judy,
who is affected by the type 2 diabetes with the foot ulcer, got each facility from the Australian
government for her treatment. Therefore, form the above discussion, it can be concluded that, the
formation of CTG and other policies have a positive impact on the development of Aboriginal
citizens.

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References:
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Closingthegap.pmc.gov.au. 2018. Home | Closing the Gap. [online] Available at:
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Diabetes.co.uk. 2018. Diabetes and Foot Ulcers. [online] Available at:
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2018].
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2018].
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Gvhealth.org.au. 2018. Aboriginal Liaison Officers | Goulburn Valley Health. [online] Available
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