Risk of Disease among Indigenous of Remote Areas Australia Report 2022

Running head: RISK OF DISEASE AMONG INDIGENOUS OF REMOTE AREAS
RISK OF DISEASE AMONG INDIGENOUS OF REMOTE AREAS
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RISK OF DISEASE AMONG INDIGENOUS OF REMOTE AREAS
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Introduction
The indigenous group of Australia living in a remote area are at the considerable risk of
disease due to following factors like a social determinant of health, health inequality, and health
inequities. It results in the emergence of various lethal disease impact the indigenous group of
population. According to the study of Azzopardi et al. (2018), the place where the people live
and play shapes their atmosphere and create their opportunities for good health. Indigenous
communities living in remote area lack access to adequate healthcare service, unhealthy
environment and poor education due to which there is a high prevalence of disease. Therefore,
the main aim of the paper is to critically analyse the health disparity and risk of disease among
the indigenous population of remote area.
The social determinant of health like employment, education, improper infrastructure,
poor sanitation, income, poverty and distribution of health resource has affected the physical and
mental health in various ways like increase in the risk of disease. The indigenous people living in
remote areas are affected by above mentioned social determinant of health. It is reported that
people living in remote area estimate to be 40% of the population below poverty line (Readin &
Greenwood, 2018). There is only 8% of people who have received adequate education, and 93%
of the total indigenous of remote area are unemployed (Greenwood et al., 2015). It is also
reported that people living in remote area do not have healthy eating habit due to their low
socioeconomic status that has made him in higher risk of disease.
The health inequalities are the difference in the status of health that is experienced by the
people living in remote area and urban area. The indigenous community of remote area undergo
health inequalities that have increased the risk of disease. According to the study of Möller et al.

RISK OF DISEASE AMONG INDIGENOUS OF REMOTE AREAS
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(2015), significant determinants of health inequality in Australia is concerned to the lack of equal
access to quality health care and low standard of the health and medical infrastructure in the
remote areas which includes food, sanitation and healthy housing compared to other non-
indigenous people living in urban area of Australia. The indigenous people living in remote areas
do not receive medical resource, have low-grade school and do not enjoy the facilities like the
non-indigenous people. According to Zhao, Vemuri and Arya (2016), 70.3% of health gap is
noticed between the indigenous and non-indigenous Australian, especially people living in
remote areas, which can be attributed by risk and incidence of disease. The government of
Australia spends an unequal amount of money in the health care sector in the remote area. It is
reported that 0.2% of the total health expenditure has relied upon in the remote regions and 5.6%
of the GDP is invested the health care sector in the urban areas (Angell et al., 2017). Thus, as the
outcome of the health inequalities, the life expectancy of indigenous group of people is low, and
the health outcome is worse than the non-indigenous counterpart.
The health inequity is the other terms which are the contributing factor for making the
indigenous communities at high risk of disease. According to the research of Rolfe et al. (2017),
it is known that people living in the remote area have inferior health status, and social
determinant of health is the leading cause of health inequity. It is evident from the research of
Lindert and Williamson (2016) that the unequal distribution of income, proper schooling and
employment in the indigenous and non-indigenous communities has resulted in emergence of
health inequity. According to the world health organisation, health equity infers a requirement
for justice in providing access to healthcare, irrespective of a person's social, demographic,
geographic or economic position (World Health Organization, 2016). The Healthcare inequity
occurs among indigenous and non-indigenous communities in Australia, and it obstructs their