Social Economic Status and Health of Karen People in Australia
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This essay provides an analysis of social economic status and health situation of Karen people in Australia by considering the Upstream, midstream, and Downstream determinants of social economic status.
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Running Head: Karen People in Queensland (Australia) Karen People Essay System04104 6/3/2019
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Karen People in Queensland (Australia) 1 Introduction Karen community is one of the oldest ethnic groups of Myanmar (Burma) and was involved in conflict in Burma with other ethnic groups in the country. Myanmar is a South- East Asian country and shares it border with India, China, Bangladesh, Laos, and Thailand. The Karen people were forced to leave the country after a long oppression under the succession of military regimes in Burma. However, there are so many ethnic groups in Burma and most of them spread in different countries of the world like Thailand, Australia, USA, India, and China. There are more than 7,500,000 Karen people are living all over the world and among them 6,000,000 people belong to Burma and 1,000,000 Karen people are living in Thailand as refugee people (Fuertes, 2010). However, the large number of people migrated to Australia. Australia is known for its refugee and asylum seeker’s policies and there are large numbers of Karen refugee people are living in the Australia and its different cities. The present work helps to understand the social economic status of Karen people in Australia and impact of various determinants of social economic framework (such as education, employment, occupation) on their health. What is Social economic Status? Social economic status can be defined as a combined measure of social and economic status and tends, which is positively associated with the better health of a group or community people. The social economic status focuses on the income, education, occupations, living standards, and its impact on the health of people or on a particular community. The social economic status normally provides an understanding of inequalities in access to resources, issues related to privilege, and problems related to power and control within a society or country for a particular group or community of people (Sugiyama, Villanueva, Knuiman, Francis, Foster, Wood, & Giles-Corti, 2016). This essay provides an analysis of social economic status and health situation of Karen people in Australia by considering the Upstream, midstream, and Downstream determinants of social economic status. This essay also provides an overview of the health conditions of Karen people in Australia along with their traditional views and ethnicity. The report uses the conceptual framework that categorizes the key determinants of socioeconomic health equalities of Karen people in Australia. The conceptualisation of this framework will help to understand the major determinants of the health of Karen people in Australia.
Karen People in Queensland (Australia) 2 Karen People in Myanmar The total population of Karen people in Myanmar is around 6 million, while 400,000 peoples reside in Thailand. The life expectancy of Karen people in Myanmar is 61 years. However, the infant mortality rate inn Karen people in Australia is 106 per 1000, while the same stats are tremendously decreased in Australia where the mortality rate is 4.6 out of 1000 (Horstmann, 2011). The major language of Karen people is Burmese, but people who spread in different part of the world adopted the local languages and speak different other languages as well. Indigenous people in Australia have their own language and they have more than 126 dialects. However, apart from these languages, people speak some other language such as Pwo Karen, Karen, Pa’O, S’gaw etc. (Aung, Lorga, Srikrajang, Promtingkran, Kreuangchai, Tonpanya, & Payaprom, 2012) Social Economic Situation of Karen people in Australia (Queensland) A large number of Karen people (almost 3500) were placed in Australia during the 1947 to 1959 as result of the rise of nationalism after Burmese Independence from Britain. However, according to the Australian census 2001, more than 11,070 Burmese born people were living in Australia and this is 9% increased reported in compare to their population in 1996 in Australia. However, form 200 to 2005 more than 1875 Karen people arrived in Australia and it is increasing every year (Nawyn, 2010). (Source:Nawyn, 2010).
Karen People in Queensland (Australia) 3 The large numbers of Karen people are distributed in Australia in different cities of the country. However, more than 1200 Karen people residing in New South Wales and Victoria state among them while 724 people arrive during 2001-2005. In the same duration, 419 Karen people were arrived in Western Australia and 104 Karen people were arrived in Queensland. However, the Australian government does not disclose the identity of the Karen Community because of security reasons. Burmese are the largest ethnic groups in Australia and the largest indigenous population is Karen people. The other indigenous races are Shans, Katchin, Chins, Mon, Rakhine etc. (Nawyn, 2010). (Source:Nawyn, 2010). The major concerns with these Karen people are related to their health concerns as more, more people from Karen community are suffering from infectious disease, and they even do not believe in modern medicine and treatment policies. These people generally depends on the traditional method of treatment of diseases while in Australian Karen people are now using the latest medical care facilities which is provided by the Australian government to the refugees in different camps (Zwi, Woodland, Williams, Palasanthiran, Rungan, Jaffe, & Woolfenden, 2018). The most of the Karen people are following Buddhism and Christian religion in Australia. Approximately 90% of the Karen people are estimated to Theravada Buddhists in Burma and 20% are estimated to be Christians in Burma. Therefore, a large number of people who arrived in Australia are belongs to Buddhist religion or Christian religion. However, the expected life expectancy of Karen people in Australia is 83
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Karen People in Queensland (Australia) 4 years (81 years for male and 85 years for females) while it is only 66 years in Burma (64 years in males and 6 years in females) (Rist, Miles, & Karimi, 2012). (Source:Brees, 2010) There is Karen 590 people arrived in the Queensland from 2006 to 2010. The number of Karen people arrived in 2009 and 2010 is tremendously increased as total 2427 Karen people arrived in Australia out of them 372 Karen people arrived in Queensland, and 1476 Karen people arrived in 2010 in Australia, among them 208 Karen people arrived in Queensland. It means the number of Karen people in Australia and Queensland is increasing every day (Brees, 2010).
Karen People in Queensland (Australia) 5 Census of Karen people in 2016 (Source: Deloitte Access Economies, 2016) There are many health related problems found in Karen people in Burma where large numbers of Karen people are suffering from depressions, anxiety symptoms, and post- traumatic stress disorder problems. Apart from this large number of people are also suffering from high blood pressure, Sugar, and Tuberculosis. There are so many people who migrated from Burma to Australia are suffering from latent Tuberculosis, Hepatitis B, and other infectious disease. However, if we compare this situation with Australia Karen people then it can be easily found that Karen people in Australia are more healthy and fit. It has been found in the research that Karen people in Australia have low rates of obesity problems, low level of respiratory symptoms, and use of Alcohol and tobacco is also under control. People are used to eat high rates of fruits and vegetable and they are also doing exercise. The Karen community normally do not give importance to the women in the community while the men are dominating over the women. The average children per family are 2-3 children, while it is two in Australia Karen community (Schweitzer, Brough, Vromans, & Asic-Kobe, 2011). Social Determinants of Health in Queensland (Australia) The health of Karen people in Queensland is also a major concern but it is comparatively very good than Myanmar and Thailand Karen people. Karen people are facing large number of health related issues in Burma and Thailand. The infectious disease like Tuberculosis, Hepatitis, HIV/AIDS are some of the common infectious disease by which Karen people are suffering more. Apart from this, diabetes, obesity etc. are some of the major health issues that affect the health of Karen people. However, the major issues are that they still believe in the traditional system if healthcare and treatment. The situation of women in the Karen community in worldwide is so pity as number of rape cases, torture, and horrors cases has been reported in the Burma and Thailand. People in this community are mainly suffering from mental health related issues, posttraumatic disorder, malnutrition, chronically mental health problems etc. (Brees, 2010). The Queensland government of Australia provide them all the facilities and healthcare services to keep them healthy and fit. The Australian government provides the facilities to be part of the Australian national healthcare program. However, the large number of Karen people takes the registration in the national health program of Australia but only few of them are taking the benefits of Australian healthcare facilities in the Queensland (Harkins, 2012). However, it has been seen that most of Karen people in Queensland uses the
Karen People in Queensland (Australia) 6 modern healthcare facilities for their infectious disease and the number of healthcare issues in Australia is continuously decreasing as large number of people are taking benefits of Australian primary healthcare services. However, the healthcare framework of this community can be divided into three broad categories: Upstream (Macro), Midstream (Intermediate), and Downstream (Micro) factors. The framework given by Turrell and Mathers consist of three separate yet narrowly interconnected stages of levels that help to analyse the health concerns and conditions of Karen people (Fredericks, Adams, & Edwards, 2011). This type of terrible situation is Burma and Thailand almost forced these people to leave the country and migrated to other countries like Australia and USA. However, the role of government in the Burma and Thailand is also questionable because the Barman government allowed its military forces to unfairly treating these people and force them to leave the country. This is the reason why more than 1 million people are living in the Thailand refugee camps. The poor government policies and health related policies for the Karen people force them to migrate in other countries. However, most of the Karen people not only migrated to Australia rather some of the people (around 15000 Karen people) moved to USA for better life (Watkins, Razee, & Richters, 2012).
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Karen People in Queensland (Australia) 7 Upstream (Macro) Health Determinants In upstream factors, there are number of factors included that help to understand the impact of various environmental, governmental, and global economic factors on the health and well-being of individuals or populations. The upstream factors include a wide range of interrelated factors such as employment, occupation, education, and working conditions. The framework also shows that these factors are also influenced by many other upstream factors such as government policies and factors associated with globalisation (Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018). The education level in the Karen people almost absence in Burma and Thailand Karen community. While considering the fact that the Australian government provides all the basic facilities to Karen people to improve their education level. The Australian government focuses on the basic education facilities that are helpful in educating the children of Karen people (Miller, Sonderlund, Coomber, Palmer, Tindall, Gillham, & Wiggers, 2010).In Australia, 14% Karen people have good command over English while 7% people speaks good English, and 31% of people speaks poor English among 1875 people who arrived Australia from 2000-2005. While other people either not able to speak English or their language was not recorded. However, the large number of Karen people in Australia speaks Burmese (47.6%) while 38.7% of people are able to speak English and 2.6% speaks Chinese- Mandarin (Nawyn, 2010). (Source:Nawyn, 2010).
Karen People in Queensland (Australia) 8 However, talking with the employment situation, then it can be easily found that these people have their own work and they are usually working in the agriculture works and doing farming on local lands. However, the Australian government are not able to provide them employment opportunities.The new arrived Karen people from 2000 to 2005 are facing problems in finding jobs in Australia (Gifford & Wilding, 2013). The employment rate in Karen people in 2016 was 70% in Berdigo and Victoria. However, the same thing is very low in Queensland in Australia where 55% of people are employed out of 3200 Karen people (Deloitte Access Economies, 2016). Employment rate in Karen people in Victoria and Bendigo (Source: Deloitte Access Economies, 2016) The Queensland government has no policies to provide them jobs in the country as large number of people are spreading in the country in different cities. The working conditions for the Karen people in Queensland is also not good as large number of people are unemployed and are nothing to do in the city. The Karen people in Queensland are facing problems related to employment and proper social and local support, but the health facilities they get in the queens land is really good compare to their Burma and Thailand. However, the unemployment and poor income of people leads to mental tension and premature death in Karen people in Queensland (Paxton, Sangster, Maxwell, McBride, & Drewe, 2012). Karen
Karen People in Queensland (Australia) 9 people facing job dis-satisfaction with their current working conditions which leads to major health related problems such as mental distress, heart disease, and other risk factors that leads to hurt disease in the Karen people. However, it has been seen that large number of Karen people registered themselves under the Australian national healthcare programs but not taking the advantage of health care facilities. This is the major reason in the city that people are still facing major health elated issues. Midstream (Intermediate) Health Determinants The psychosocial factors and health behaviour of people are major midstream health determinants. People in Queensland are majorly facing problems related to social support, which is a part of the psychosocial factors. Social support in the area is still a major concern for the Karen people in the Queensland because the government does not disclose their identity in the society because of the social security reasons. However, the perception of people about the new tradition and Australian culture is different and they give priority to their own traditional culture. The living style of people is still influenced by their own traditional and ethnic culture rather than modern culture of Queensland. However, the food provision in the city for the Karen people is just like another Australians and there are no separate or other health problems in the country (Block, Warr, Gibbs & Riggs, 2012). The Queensland government also provide same food and education facilities for the Karen people, but the major concern is that only few Karen people children join the primary and higher school on regular basis. The school distance from the children, homes are also so far and they have to cover more distance to join the school. The large number of Karen people are suffering from mental distress and traumatic mental disorders that shows that their mental health conditions in the country is not good. This is generally seen in those people who arrived Queensland during 2001-2005. Only few people in Queensland are registered to premature death or suffering from any dangerous infectious disease in Australia, because Australian government provides all the basic healthcare facilities to them (Brink, Shannon, & Vinson, 2015). Considering the health behaviour of Karen people in Queensland, then it has been found that many of the Karen people are addicted to smoking and tobacco products. The numbers of people are habituate to use the Alcoholic products (Martin, Swannell, Hazell, Harrison, & Taylor, 2010). Therefore, the health related issues such as lung cancer and
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Karen People in Queensland (Australia) 10 Tuberculosis is usual in the Karen people. People live in rural areas normally habitual for drinking and using tobacco products that affect their health on a greater concern. However, the Queensland government and Australian government provide all the basic facilities to the Karen people to improve their life conditions. People in Australia are normally supporting the healthcare problems of Karen people and the National health program of Australia also provides benefit to the Karen people to leave all these bad habits and live the life healthy and fit. The current situation of Karen people in Queensland is really good in compare to other cities or country. However, the Karen people still need social support from the Queensland people and employment opportunities that helps the people to improve their current situation in the country (Weiß, 2018). Downstream (Micro) Health Determinants In the downstream health determinants, there are several social determinants such as psychological system (such as immune and endocrine), Health determinants (such as mortality, morbidity, and life expectancy), and other biological reactions. People in Queensland are not facing stream problems related to immune system. Although people who arrived in Queensland during last 15-18 years are getting better healthcare facilities and security from the government. The Queensland government helps the Karen people to get the best healthcare facilities in the country. However, there are still a large number of Karen people who lived in Queensland and Australia is suffering from chronic disease such as diabetes and Obesity (Jenkinson, Young & Kruske, 2014). (Source:Roennfeldt, 2010)
Karen People in Queensland (Australia) 11 The mortality rate in Karen people in Australia is really good. It has been noted that the average life expectancy in the Karen people in Australia is 83 years (81 years for male and 85 years for females) while it is only 66 years in Burma (64 years in males and 6 years in females). It means the mortality and life expectancy rate in Australia of Karen people is quite good in compare to their origin country. Considering the infant mortality then it has been found that the infant mortality rate in Karen people is very low in compare to other countries where this community resides. Apart from this, the biological reactions in the Karen people can easily be observed. People who live near the river or using un-purified water are suffering from many diseases. Apart from this, the alcohol and tobacco product consumption is still a major issue for the community people (McClure, Hughes, Ren, McKenzie, Dietrich, Vardon, & Newman, 2010). Current initiatives and efforts for the Karen people in Queensland (Australia) The Queensland and Australian government provides all the basic healthcare facilities and resources that are required to improve their living standards. The living standards of people also improved because of education and employment opportunities given by the Australian government. The Australian government formed an organisation called ‘Australian Karen Organisation’ (AKO) which is national organisation that entertain all the issues and health related issues of Karen people in the community. People from various states such as New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria etc. raise their issues towards the AKO (Goris, Komaric, Guandalini, Francis & Hawes, 2013). AKO cares for the affordable housing and rental housing arrangement for the Karen people and also working on providing private and community houses for the Karen people. Apart from this, the Karen people are also helped by many Australian Indigenous and rural development plan where they have provided better healthcare facilities and fitness care programs (Horstmann, 2011). The Australian government encourage the Karen people to register in the Australian National Health care programmes so they can get better healthcare services and facilities from the government. It is also considerable that these people are treated same as the common Australian people in both Queensland and other part of the country. The healthcare facilities not only helped to decrease the mortality rate and infant mortality rate in Australia, it also reduces the chances of chronicle disease because people now can get better medical and healthcare facilities in the Australia, including Queensland.
Karen People in Queensland (Australia) 12 This is the reason that the life expectancy rate in Karen community is more than other Karen people live in the other part of the world (Henderson & Kendall, 2011). Recommendations to improve the situation of Karen people in Australia The Australian government provides all the healthcare facilities to Karen people in the country and treating them as their own citizens. However, the major concern is that the Karen people are still finding jobs and facing issues related to find unemployment. The majority of Karen people are suffering from mental disorder and stress because they are not doing anything in the cities. People in Queensland are living their life like a common Australia people, but security of these people still a major concern for the Queensland government. However, education is another concern by which Queensland government has to deal (Mitschke, Mitschke, Slater, & Teboh, 2011). The Australian government including the state government like Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria etc. must focuses on improving the wellbeing of Karen people and provide them opportunities to prepare themselves to find a job and remove the unemployment and other problems like poverty and poor health issues from their community. However, the Australian government needs to formulate a new planning and agenda for the Karen people and trying to provide them all the necessary and basic facilities, and encourage them to use and participate in the government health and employment programs. However, the major problem is that Karen people are still not using the government healthcare facilities (Mueller, Schmidt, Staeheli, & Maier, 2010). Conclusion In conclusion, the situation of Karen people in Australia including Queensland is quite good in compare to the other Karen people who live in Burma, Thailand, USA, and India. However, the major concern is that the ethnicity and tradition view of Karen people act as an obstacle between the Australian development program and development of Karen people. The Karen people are still facing large number of health related issues in the country, the Australian government needs to done a lot of work to improve the life style, and health conditions of Karen people. Apart from this, the old and traditional mentality of Karen people is also some of the key causes behind their underdeveloped community and poor situation of people. However, if the Australian government will provide a better healthcare and employment opportunity program for the Karen people, it will be really beneficial for their
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Karen People in Queensland (Australia) 13 health and overall development of these refugee people in the Queensland and in Australia as well.
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Karen People in Queensland (Australia) 17 Zwi, K., Woodland, L., Williams, K., Palasanthiran, P., Rungan, S., Jaffe, A., & Woolfenden, S. (2018). Protective factors for social-emotional well-being of refugee children in the first three years of settlement in Australia.Archives of disease in childhood,103(3), 261-268.