The Past and Impacts on the Present: Addressing Health Inequality in Indigenous Australians

THE PAST AND IMPACTS ON THE PRESENT
The economic and social impacts of annexation
and control of aboriginal Torres Strait Islanders
has accumulated across generations. Certain
policies and practices have amplified the
situation and systematically disadvantaging this
community. Consequently, the long term impact
of lack of opportunities in prior generations is
observed in different areas including health
(AustraliansTogether, n.d.).
COMMITTING TO CLOSE THE GAP
We can contribute to addressing inequality in
health by initiating and implementing the National
Close the Gap Day in our organization. Here, we
will have the opportunity to join others in sending
a clear message that health equality is valued by
Australians as suggested by (Oxfam, n.d.).HEALTH DISPARITY
There is a wide gap in health status between
indigenous and non-indigenous Australians with
their life expectancy being 10 years less (Durey,
McEvoy, Otero, Taylor, Katzenellnbogen, &
Bessarab, 2016). Health disparity is a
longstanding challenge with the aboriginals
being overly represented among the poor and
disadvantaged (Durey & Thompson, 2012). This
is contributed by factors such as colonization,
racism, and discriminatory policies (Wilson,
Kelly, Magaly, Jones, & Macken, 2016).
HEALTH DISPARITY
There is a wide gap in health status between
indigenous and non-indigenous Australians with
their life expectancy being 10 years less (Durey,
McEvoy, Otero, Taylor, Katzenellnbogen, &
Bessarab, 2016). Health disparity is a
longstanding challenge with the aboriginals
being overly represented among the poor and
disadvantaged (Durey & Thompson, 2012). This
is contributed by factors such as colonization,
racism, and discriminatory policies (Wilson,
Kelly, Magaly, Jones, & Macken, 2016).
STOLEN GENERATION
The child removal policies is one of the
discriminatory measures that left a bequest of
trauma and loss that impacts on indigenous
individuals, their families, and communities even
today. Removal of the numerous generations also
led to disruption of these people’s culture and
passing on of cultural knowledge was halted.
Despite this, the culture of the indigenous
people support kinship and family structures
characterized by cohesive forces and binding
them together (Working with Indigenous
Australians, 2017). These close ties provide
emotional and psychological support for these
people. Family obligations reflect cultural values
in the kinship responsibilities.TOGETHER LET’S CLOSE THE GAP
TOGETHER LET’S CLOSE THE GAP
REFERENCES
AustraliansTogether (n.d.).
What about history? Retrieved from
https://australianstogether.org.au/discover/australian-history/get-over-it/
Durey, A., & Thompson, S. C. (2012). Reducing the health disparities of Indigenous Australians: time to change
focus.
BMC health services research,
12, 151.
Durey, A., McEvoy, S., Swift-Otero, V., Taylor, K., Katzenellenbogen, J., & Bessarab, D. (2016). Improving healthcare for
Aboriginal Australians through effective engagement between community and health services.
BMC health services
research,
16, 224.
Oxfam (n.d.).
Close the gap: Your how-to-guide. Retrieved from
https://www.oxfam.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/CTG-How-To-Guide-WEB.pdf
Wilson, A. M., Kelly, J., Magarey, A., Jones, M., & Mackean, T. (2016). Working at the interface in Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander health: focusing on the individual health professional and their organisation as a means to address
health equity.
International journal for equity in health,
15(1), 187.