Introduction Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

Introduction
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have poor health status as
compared to the non-indigenous population or other communities of Australia. This is
due to increased racial discrimination, marginalisation, inequity and inequality
(Bodkin-Andrews and Carlson, 2016). The project was aimed at analysing the role of
self-determination, cultural security, and collaboration in ensuring the health of these
people. It was also focused on determining the needs of Indigenous Australians by
assessing the physical health of the individuals belonging to these communities and
ensuring the cultural, social and emotional health of the whole community.
Discussion
Recently, I had started working in a community clinic in Adelaide and
my first project involved safeguarding the health of Aborigines and Torres
Strait Islanders. During my interactive sessions with the Indigenous
Australians, I realised that most of them had misinterpreted health as physical
fitness. Hence, my primary goal was to make them understand that health is a
complex phenomenon that not only includes the physical fitness of individuals
but also the cultural, emotional and social well-being of the entire community
so that every individual in the community can achieve their full potential
(Bourke et al., 2013). Initially, we had a huge communication gap between us
and I was facing difficulties in establishing a constructive communicative
relationship with them. However, a few weeks later, I had established a rapport
with them during one of their traditional pre-marital functions. I had also
observed that these people had a good interpersonal relationship with each

other. They had a well-connected community and every member made
tremendous efforts to protect and preserve their cultural heritage.
Furthermore, they had displayed their cultural richness by showing their
talents during the event. They were quite pleased to perform in front of me and
they taught me some of their basics skills. According to Lai et al. (2018), the
exhibition of the cultural richness and engagement in traditional activities
boosts self-esteem and increases the confidence levels of Indigenous
Australians. After that event, I realised that my inability to establish effective
communication was because of my prejudices against them and failure to
relate to their problems. This may be due to our cultural and social differences.
I was born in Russia in a wealthy family and I had never struggled for anything
in my life. However, these people had suffered for their basic needs and were
victims of social injustice, racial discrimination, inequality (inadequate access
to education and increased unemployment) and resource inequity. These
social and financial constraints had limited their access to adequate health
care facilities, which had increased the prevalence of diseases amongst
individuals belonging to these communities (Gee et al., 2014). According to
Schultz and Cairney (2017), the major factor responsible for reduced health
outcomes is the insufficient utilization of available health care services. They
have further explained that low education levels, low social status, and
unemployment are the major reasons for poor utilization of health care
resources. This had led to an increased need for the development of a
culturally safe environment for Indigenous Australians. Humanrights.gov.au
(2011) has described cultural safety as the development of a safe environment,
which is free from exploitation, discrimination, assault, and denial of the

identities of the individuals. The government has realised the importance of
collaborating with individuals and their families in order to effectively address
the issues of discrimination and health inequality. Hence, efforts are being
made by the government to ensure the cultural safety and security of
Indigenous Australians.
I think that the health service delivery system may be improved by the
active participation of Indigenous Australians in devising programs and
policies for their well-being. Moreover, these people generally have extended
families where several members of the community may be involved in taking
care of an individual. Hence, the communication of information to each
member may assist in increasing the effectiveness of the health care plan.
Moreover, health awareness campaigns and free health check-ups may be
organised frequently. Indigenous Australians are well-connected and instead
of approaching other health care providers, they prefer to take the assistance
of their community members. According to Gee et al. (2014), Indigenous
Australians are more comfortable approaching a health care system that
consists of members of their own community. This may be because of the
racial discrimination and marginalization in the existing health care systems,
which has limited their utilisation of the available health services (Markwick et
al., 2019). Hence, Indigenous Australians should be involved in the delivery of
health care services to the individuals of their community. I feel that attempts
should be made for providing equal opportunities to Indigenous Australians
rather than just assessing the number of healthy people within the
communities. This would assist in optimising the health status and quality of