Factors resulting to health disparity between indigenous and non-indigenous communities

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Project Title: Factors resulting to health disparity between indigenous and non-
indigenous communities

Background of the study
There is huge disparity in health of indigenous people and the non-indigenous people
of Australia (Steenkamp, Rumbold, Barclay & Kildea,2012). Data from the ministry
of health shows that indigenous Australian shave a shorter life expectancy compared
to non-indigenous Australians. Males from indigenous communities have a life
expectancy of 10 years lesser than non-indigenous communities while the life
expectancy for indigenous females is less by 9.5 years when compared to that of other
communities in Australia. Statistics also indicate that indigenous communities have
worse general health outcomes as compared to non-indigenous populations. The
burden of disease among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders is 2.4 times more
than the average burden of disease in other communities (Hill, Sarfati, Robson &
Blakely,2013). Child mortality rates among the indigenous people is also twice as
high as compared to the non-indigenous communities. Despite the decline in child
mortality rate among the indigenous communities, there still remains a huge gap
between the health of the children in indigenous communities and those from non-
indigenous communities. Additionally, research shows that people from the
indigenous communities are 2.7 times more likely to experience psychological
distress and mental related illnesses compared to the rest of Australians (Aspin,
Brown,Jowsey,Yen & Leeder, 2012). Children of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islanders are two times more likely to be born with low birth rate. Statistics also
indicates that instances of clinical diseases among the Aboriginals are more than two
times higher compared to non-indigenous communities. From the above statistics, it is
very clear that there is a huge disparity in health of the indigenous population and that
of non-indigenous populations. This study therefore aims at establishing the factors

that contribute to the huge difference in health of these two components of the
population.
According to Aspin et al (2012) , the disparity in health between these two groups of
populations is as a result of social determinants. Research indicates that Indigenous
Australians highly engage in detrimental and highly risk health behaviors. One of
such risky behavior is use of tobacco. A survey conducted by Aspin et al
(2012)indicated that approximately43.9% of Indigenous Australians were reported to
be daily smokers as opposed to a mere 15.5% of non-indigenous daily smokers. This
information indicates that the proportion of indigenous people who are daily smokers
is almost three times more than the percentage of non-indigenous Australians who
smoke daily. The use of alcohol and other drugs is also 1.8 times more than the use of
the same among non-indigenous communities. This therefore explains the high
instances of chronic respiratory diseases among this population. Merrick et al.,
(2012)indicates that there are several factors which influence the health behavior of
the indigenous people. These factors are both social, economic and cultural. Some of
these behaviour cannot be completely controlled by the indigenous people. Historical
events are identified as some of the factors that contributed to the health behavior
associated with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Merrick et al.,(2012) also
indicates that colonization of Australia also impacted greatly on social health
behaviors which impact on the indigenous population to date. During colonization,
the indigenous people were forced to live in reserves and missions where most of their
freedoms were restricted. This loss of liberty resulted to complete change in social
and cultural behavior and hence impacting on their healthcare.
(Mitrou et al., 2014) in his research identified culture as one of the major factors
contributing to disparity in health between the indigenous community and the non-