Health Inequalities in Australia

This assignment delves into the complex issue of health inequalities within Australia, particularly highlighting the disparities faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations. It requires an analysis of various social determinants contributing to these inequalities, drawing upon provided resources and academic research. The assignment encourages critical thinking about potential solutions and strategies to address these pressing health concerns.

Running head: NURSING ASSIGNMENT
Nursing assignment
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author’s note

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Topic- Reflection on significant health issues in culturally diverse group of Australia
Reflection on feelings and thoughts through the sociological imagination template
a. Reflection on feelings and behavior related to the topic
The sociological imagination is a term given by C. Wright Mills which is the process of
analysing the link between an experience or issue and the wider society. Reflection on any
social or health issues on the basis of this template helps to establish connection between
social realities and public health issues (Giddens et al., 2016). In this report, the focus is on
using the sociological imagination template to determine the factors that contribute to
significant health issues in culturally diverse population group of Australia. This topic is the
focus of attention because Australia has been regarded as a country with multicultural
diversity. With the large influx of different minority groups in the country, it is necessary to
evaluate how the Australian health care system has evolved to address the health issues of
culturally diverse group. The report evaluates this by focusing on the element of historical,
cultural, structural and critical factors of the sociological template.
b. Historical factors
As a registered nurse, I have gained expertise in handling different types of patients such as
children, adults, and old age individuals. I had the ambition of working abroad and use my
professionals skills to provide quality nursing care to patient. I came from Nepal and since I had
lived in Nepal, my perspective about the reasons for inequality in different social group was that
that it occurred due to poor social class of patient. I was not aware about the different other

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causes of health inequality because I had never interacted with culturally diverse group before.
However, when I came to Australia and worked closely with Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander people, I realized the reasons of significant gap in health outcome between indigenous
and non-indigenous population of Australia. Currently the population of the Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander people is about 2.8% of the total Australian population and several factors
like floods, famines and oppressive political regimen has been the reason for them to migrate to
other countries (Census: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, 2017).
Working in Australia also help me develop knowledge about the origin of Australian cultural
diversity and how the Australian health care system meets the needs of such a diverse population
base. In response to the rise in multiculturalism in Australia, several policies and strategies
helped to evolve the Australian health care system and embrace people from different cultural
groups. The Assimilation policy was one such policy that focused on providing necessary
training to new arrivals to adapt and learn Australian cultural practices (Jones et al, 2014). This
helped me too as cultural sensitive care training helped to understand the history of the
population groups and the reasons for different experiences of illness. Different in health
indicators of indigenous population was found to have links with their negative experience in hoe
countries too. Majority of people were found to have mental illness because of cultural shock and
separation from home and experiences of atrocities and poor lifestyles (Parker & Milroy, 2014).
c. Cultural factors
Culture or the patterns of belief developed in a individual while living in a society greatly
influences their health beliefs, perceptions and reasoning about the cause of illness and seeking
cure. The influence of culture on health is huge and difference between cultures in health

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professionals and patients lead to culture bias and conflict (Iwelunmor, Newsome, &
Airhihenbuwa, 2014). As my origin is from Nepal, I have found Nepalese people to belief on the
supernatural element for health, illness and pain. Hence, they seek spiritual intervention to get
cure to address their pain and suffering due to illness. However, such beliefs about illness is seen
only in people coming from low socioeconomic background and poor education (Boden, 2015). I
do not have the same belief like my fellow countrymen because high educational has helped me
to belied the scientific and biological theories about health and illness. While practicing as a
nurse in Australia, I also found that Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders held different beliefs
about health and illness which affected their patterns of using the health care services too.
Torres Strait Islander people of Australia are different in cultural and ethnic context. While
working in Australia, I got to know that they have a lot of similarities in the culture of
individulas in Papua New Guinea and the Pacific.There are two communities of Torres Strait
Islander near the coast of mainland at Bamaga and Seisia. The indigenous population trades with
the people residing in Papua New Guinea and they are different in cultural aspects as compared
to other people living in Australia (Casey, Murray, & Kirk, 2016).They are different in their way
of living and have variety of cultures and religions. Individuals belonging to Torres Strait
Islander population are quite young as compared to the individuals who are non-indigenous
(Doolan, Najman, Henderson, Cherney, Plotnikova, & Smirnov, 2015).They also are human
beings and have the basic right to preserve their cultures and traditions. Young children who
belong to Toress and Aboriginal community also have the right to education during the phase of
early childhood. Children belonging to the Indigenous community are poorly educated as
compared to non-Indigenous children. However, while caring for them in hospitals, I observed

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that the children of Torres Strait Islander population are unable to recieve early childhood
education and adequate nutrition which exposed them to many health risk
While interacting with one of
the patients from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community, I was shocked to know
that the individuals belonging to this community do not have access to proper medical and
healthcare facilities. They were discriminated from other Australian population as because of
their origin, ethnicity and low socio economic status. There are also differnt types of risk and
protective factors that negatively influence the mental and social health of Torres Strait Islander
people(World Health Organisation 2015).Various risk factors included health issues, different
health beliefs, cultural perception about health, financial issues, discrimination on the basis of
caste, creed, religion etc, lack of early childhood education among young children (Townsend,
White, Cullen, Wright, & Zeeman, 2017).It has been observed that a major portion of
individuals belonging to Torres Strait Islander suffer from HIV due to a lack of proper health
care services.
d. Structural factors
Structural factors related to health care infrastructure and accessibility to health services also
had an impact on health. I also realized that for indigenous population, social determinants of
health , primary health care, and health well being of populations and communities at risk of
exposure to HIV are directly interlinked to one another. Culture has an impact on social
determinant of health and same was seen for indigenous populations too. Social determinants of
HIV include social discrimination of the infected individuals,gender biasness ,low

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socioeconomic status and experiences in childhood such as sexual abuse or children who have
faced emotional issues are seen to have infected with HIV during adulthood (Adimora and
Schoenbach 2013).
Primary health care for HIV includes lack of information regarding safe sex due to low
socioeconomic status and financial crisis, lack of proper counseling and treatment especially to
women due to gender biasness. It is important to provide to medical facilities to individuals
infected with HIV without any discrimination to lower down the rate of HIV patients on a global
level (World Health Organisation 2015).Lack of proper healthcare facilities leads to depressive
symptoms, anger, sadness and low self-esteem in individuals belonging to the Torres Islander
and Aboriginal population (Thomas & Humphreys, 2015))
Proper counselling about preventing infection from HIV/AIDS must be provided to both
young boys and girls in an equal manner (Bennell, Hyde, & Swainson, 2013). Various nursing
interventions in Australia involved working with various healthcare providers to make sure that
the patients suffering from HIV receive proper care .It also involves monitoring of various sign
of infections in the patients because of HIV and encourage them to have a proper balanced diet
to increase the nutritional content.They should provide soft cushions to the patients to prevent
the discomfort. They should also keep in check whether the stool of the patient suffering from
HIV is consistent or not and should keep in check if the patient is suffering from abdominal
cramps or pain (Bennett, Bertagnolio, & Gilks, 2008). They should be cooperative and
sympathetic towards the HIV patients.
Preventive health care interventions for HIV include proper use of condoms by these
indigenous populations to reduce the sexual transmission of HIV up to 94 %. Nursing

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interventions and family support can also help them in the prevention of HIV and other relate
health disorders. Community interventions play an important role improving their health
condition and various other patients include proper counseling of patient affected by HIV and
providing them psychosocial support to boost their confidence and improve their self-esteem.
They should be treated with respect and dignity by the other individuals belonging non-
indigenous population. They should not be discriminated and should be treated with respect on
the basis of cultural and traditional context (Price, 2015).
This reflective essay helped me in demonstrating respect and the dignity of each
individual belonging to the indigenous population and for the diversity of human beings. It also
helped me in recognizing my responsibility for the benefit of the common man, the environment
and society. Now, I will be able to think critically and reflectively and work both autonomously
and in collaboration. I would like to provide healthcare services free of cost for these indigenous
populations.. It is the human right of every AIDS patient to receive proper counseling about the
preventive measures and the treatment tests (Diagnosing HIV, 2015).Equity and Rights should
be balanced for all the patients affected by HIV. Proper policies, and laws are required in order
to protect the individual rights of such patients. Proper measures and strategies for education and
employment should be followed for the individuals belonging to Torres Strait Islander
community. They should have basic rights to avail education and proper access to healthcare
facilities should be provide to them to prevent from several diseases. HIV is majorly seen
among the individuals belonging to Torres and Islander community. Therefore, health promotion
program is essential for these people to empower them towards self-efficacy and management of
disease with reduction of related complications. Various strategies should be taken by the

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Government of Australia to lower down the discrimination between the individuals belonging to
Torres Strait Islander with non-indigenous population.

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