Social Determinant of Health: Torres Strait Islanders

Running head: SOCIAL DETERMINANT OF HEALTH: TORRES STRAIT ISLANDERS
Social Determinant of Health: Torres Strait Islanders
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1SOCIAL DETERMINANT OF HEALTH: TORRES STRAIT ISLANDERS
Chosen population group: The Torres Strait Islanders
Factors affecting health: cultural identity and social support
Introduction
The social determinants of health are factors that define the conditions of people’s life
span. The common social determinants of health are socioeconomic status, neighborhood and
physical environment, education, employment, social support and health acre accessibility
(Pössel et al., 2018). For aboriginal people, especially the Torres Strait Islanders, the social
determinants of health include cultural identity, spirituality, family and kinship, country,
country and access to land and freedom from racial discrimination. Among these, the factors
of social support and cultural identity are chosen as for discussion. This report explores the
current condition of health among the Torres Strait islanders. Additionally, it analyses the
two factors and how they impact aboriginal wellbeing. Finally, the report analyses the
intersectional impact of these factors on the health of the Torres Strait Islanders.
Discussion
Current health status of the Torres Strait islanders
The aboriginal population, mainly the Torres Strait Islanders are extremely vulnerable
populations when it comes to health. Around half the population are suffering from adverse
health conditions either physically or psychologically and sometimes both. A report of
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) shows that 47% of the northern territory
population still suffers from hearing problems. Moreover, the average median age for this
population group is 23 which is drastically less than the 28 of the non-aboriginal population

2SOCIAL DETERMINANT OF HEALTH: TORRES STRAIT ISLANDERS
(Indigenous Australians Overview - Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Australian
Institute of Health and Welfare, 2020).
There is also high number of reported cases of mental illness or psychological distress
among the Torres Strait islanders as statistics says that 1 in 3 youths in the population are
vulnerable to psychological distress. The presence of both mental and physical illnesses
create burden of disease which increases their chance of being affected greatly (Macniven et
al., 2016). Apart from these, the ratio of heart disease, kidney diseases and diabetes are quite
common among this population. Mental illness is also one of the main concerns when it
comes to the Torres Strait Islanders. The reason behind all these issues are cultural identity
and social support.
Influence of the factors on health outcomes for the population
Identity is a pre-requisite for mental health. For aboriginals and Torres Strait
islanders, there are many factors that define their identity for them. Among them, cultural is
the most dominant factor as their uniqueness lies in their culture only (Adams et al., 2017).
The cultural identity of the Torres Strait islanders are closely knitted with their relationship to
land and being able to practice their cultural norms and rituals. Due to colonization and large
scale uprooting, the Torres Strait islanders have lost much of the cultural uniqueness and
have lost their ancestral lands which has caused distress among them. Apart from that, large
scale violence and governmental policies has affected the health of the population adversely
for generations. According to Kilcullen, Swinborne and Cadet-James (2018), spirituality,
empathy, respect and acceptance form much of their cultural identity and are important
factors of aboriginal wellbeing. This indicates that the oppression and loss of culture has
contributed to the reduced health statistics among the aboriginals.