Infant Mortality in Australian Aboriginals: A Critical Paper on Primary Health Care

Running head: CRITICAL PAPER ON PRIMARY HEALTH CARE
CRITICAL PAPER
INFANT MORTALITY IN AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINALS
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Health Issue of the Aboriginals:
Aboriginals or the Torres Strait Islanders are defined as the Indigenous Australians. Due
to their social, cultural and economic condition, they are suffering from many health issues. One
of the most concerned health issues is the infant mortality or premature death in the population
(Stoneham, Goodman & Daube, 2014). The main cause of the premature death in the population
is the poor health condition in the perinatal period. Some of the most specific perinatal health
issues include birth trauma, complication of pregnancy, respiratory disorder, cardiovascular
disorder and foetal growth disorder (Elliott et al., 2014). 48% of the infant death in the
population is due to poor health condition during the perinatal period (Walter & Andersen,
2013). Other medical conditions include, low birth weight, malnutrition and infectious disease.
Malnutrition is one of the serious causes that lead to infant mortality. Due to lack of proper
information regarding nutrition, most of the women fail to fulfil their nutritional requirements. It
leads to poor nutrition condition of the pregnant mother, thus creates enormous problem during
childbirth. Such poor health condition of the mother leads to low birth weight and other
nutritional issue in the newborn. The newborn suffers from the low growth rate, malnutrition and
sometimes the foetus fail to survive in the mother womb (Elliott et al., 2014). The social
condition and the lifestyle of the aboriginals also contribute to the poor health condition, for
example, smoking and drinking alcohol during pregnancy is injurious to the health of the mother
and the foetus, as it leads to sudden infant death syndromes (O’Leary et al., 2013). The economic
condition of the aboriginals is also responsible for such poor health condition. Another reason is
lack of access to the health resources. Due to this, the aboriginals fail to provide proper care to
the newborn babies and they suffer from infectious disease that lead to death of the infants. The

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rate of infant mortality is higher in the indigenous population than the non-indigenous
population. According to the statistics, the rate of infant mortality is approximately twice in the
indigenous population than the non-indigenous population (Walter & Andersen, 2013). Thus, it
is a serious health issue that the aboriginals are facing and it need to be addressed in an effective
manner in order to provide them healthy environment and well-being.
Analysis:
Primary health care service is defined as the essential health care service that is
scientifically, socially and technologically acceptable and which provide universal health care
service that is accessible to all community within a population and to the individual as well. The
main purpose of providing such service is to create health equity and provide equal service to all
in order to inspire healthy living and well-being (Greenhalgh, 2013). However, in some cases,
the service providers fail to reach to every person with need, thus, such person has to suffer from
health related problems. In case of Aboriginals, the lack of proper health care service is one of
the main reasons that influence the poor health condition. The main obstacles include limited
availability of resources (Bar-Zeev et al., 2014). The primary health care service fail to reach the
rustic areas, thus, the people residing in the place lack adequate resources to improve their health
condition. Sometimes they fail to avail the service due to poor transport system. Cultural
appropriateness and institutional racism also contributes to the poor health condition of the
aboriginals. Health literacy provided by the primary health care service providers, but due to lack
of access, the aboriginals lack proper education and information related to health (Mirowsky,
2017). Beside such factors, there are many social determinants that are responsible for creating
health issues in the population.

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Social Determinants of Health:
The conditions, in which people are born, grow and live are he known as the social
determinants. There are many social factors that affect the health condition of a population. The
social determinants of health are mainly responsible for the health inequalities and discrimination
in the health status within a population (Braveman & Gottlieb, 2014). The following factors are
considered as the social determinants of health and they affects the health condition of the
aboriginals –
Economic factors - Employment condition is one of the main economic factors that affect the
health status of a population. The working culture and working environment of a person can
influence poor health condition. Sometimes, according to the employment condition, health
services are provided to a person. Poverty is another economic factor that restricts a person to
avail adequate health service. Housing instability is also responsible for the poor health status of
a population. Most of the health issue is related to the unavailability of food, thus food insecurity
has played an important role in creating health issues (Stoeckl et al., 2013).
Education - Education plays an important role in providing proper health condition. Due to lack
of education, most of the people of aboriginal population fail to understand the signs and
symptoms of diseases. They lack proper information regarding healthy living and well-being.
Due to this, they fail to understand the proper way of treatment, thus, suffer from health issues
that affect the health of the newborn and the children and results in premature death (Mirowsky,
2017).