Health Disparity in Hearing, Sight and Other Senses among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Population of Australia

1NURSING ASSIGNMENT
Introduction
The Aboriginals and the Torres Strait Islander population are regarded as the indigenous
population in the Australia. There is a significant level of health disparity that exists within the
indigenous and the non-indigenous population of Australia (Australian Institute of Health and
Welfare [AAIHW], (2018). The following assignment will focus on the health disparity existing
in the domain of hearing, sight and other senses. The assignment will initiate with the
description of the health issue followed by the representation of the comparative health statistics
among the indigenous and non-indigenous population. The later part of the assignment will focus
on how the colonisation has impacted the development of the chosen health issues, two social
determinants of health affecting the development of the health issues and the cultural
implications and obstacles associated with the health issue.
Description of the health-issue
Ear diseases and the associated hearing loss are common among the Aboriginals and
Torres Strait Islanders children. Otitis media is characterized by hearing loss. It is common
among the indigenous children (AAIHW, 2018). Otitis media leads to inflammation in the
middle ear caused by microbial infection and is a common childhood illness. The incidence rate
of otitis media is higher among the children who are between the age group of 6 to 24 years and
4 to 5 years (Liese et al., 2014).
In the domain of eye health, it can be stated that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
people mainly start their life with normal vision in comparison to the rest of the Australian
population. The existing information suggest that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children

2NURSING ASSIGNMENT
mainly have decreased prevalence of the vision loss, refractive error and blindness in comparison
to the non-indigenous population however, the data reverses during the adulthood. Three major
causes of loss of vision among the non-indigenous population include formation of cataract,
uncorrected refractive error and increased vulnerability of developing diabetic retinopathy.
However, there is a positive trend in the domain of avoidable vision loss among the indigenous
population in the area of trachoma (Australian Indigenous Health Bulletin, 2018).
Statistics of the health issue
The clinical presentation of the hearing loss resulting from the otitis media infections
differs among the indigenous and non-indigenous children. Among the indigenous population,
otitis media is characterised by an outbreak of severe infection during the first episode of the
early childhood. The repeated ear infections remain undiagnosed and untreated leading to
subsequent hearing loss among the indigenous children (Jervis-Bardy et al, 2017). During the
age of 2 to 20 years, the indigenous group of children is likely to experience loss of auditory
capacity due to middle ear infection for at least 32 months in comparison to the 3 months of
infection among the non-indigenous children. The disease burden due to hearing loss is 8.6 times
higher among the indigenous children in comparison to the non-indigenous children(Jervis-
Bardy et al, 2017).

3NURSING ASSIGNMENT
(Source: AIHW, 2018)
Figure: Comparison between the disease burden among the indigenous and non-indigenous
population

4NURSING ASSIGNMENT
(Source: AIHW, 2018)
The comparison between the data of the hearing loss between the indigenous and non-
indigenous population highlighted that the disease burden has dropped from 2001 (11%) to 2014
(8.4%)(AIHW, 2018).In the domain of the vision loss, with the progress of the adulthood, the
tendency of developing ophthalmological problems among the indigenous population increases
by three fold in comparison to the non-indigenous population (National Eye Health Survey,
2016). The prevalence of blindness does not have reduced among the indigenous population
during the tenure of 2008 to 2016 (2.8%). This increases by gap with the non-indigenous
population by 6.2 fold high (Australian Indigenous Health Bulletin, 2018). The rate of disease
burden arising out of from the loss of senses among the indigenous population (0 to 14 years) is
12 times higher in comparison to the non-indigenous children (AIHW, 2018).
(Source: National Eye Health Survey Report, 2016)