Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health: Traditional Healing and Western Medicine

Running head: NURSING
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Reflection: 1
Why there is a 10 – 12 years gap in the life expectancy of an Aboriginal Australian
compared to an ordinary Australian
Description
According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) (2018), the life
expectancy of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population male, born during 2010 to
2012, is 10.6 years less than the non-indigenous population. For female population, the
difference in the life-expectancy is 9.5 years. This strong difference in the life-expectancy is
attributed to increased incidence of chronic diseases among the aboriginal population. This
strong gap in the life expectancy has negatively impacted the Aboriginal population in
Australia leading to increase in the health-equality and poor social and economic status
(AIHW, 2016). This issue also has profound impact on me I feel that aboriginals are
neglected in the healthcare sector.
Feelings
Before I am exposed to the data of the AIHW I used to think that poor lifestyle of the
aboriginal people and their orthodox behaviour towards health are the main reasons behind
their poor expectancy. Like AIHW (2016) highlighted that tendency of substance abuse
among the aboriginals results in poor life-expectancy. After I am exposed to the content, I
feel that aboriginals cannot solely be blamed for their poor conditions and lack of quality
access to the healthcare service is another reason behind the huge gap in life expectancy. For
example, according to Australian Human Rights Commission (2017) the indigenous people
do not have equal access to the healthcare service in comparison to the non-indigenous

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population moreover there is also gap in knowledge about the healthy lifestyle among the
aboriginal population resulting in huge gap in the life-expectancy.
Critical evaluation
As per my understanding, this huge gap in the life-expectancy of the Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander population is creating health-inequality in the Australia which has a
negative impact in the overall Australian economy. According to the report published by the
World’s Health Organisation [WHO] (2018), the huge disparities in health of indigenous
Aboriginals population with non-indigenous population are disquieting in affluent country
like Australia. In order to know more about the underlying reasons behind the huge gap in the
life expectancy of the Aboriginal population I studied the governmental reports further. It
helped me to enlighten the darker side of the Aboriginal lifestyle and health. According to
WHO (2018) for the majority of the non-indigenous people in Australia, it is hard to
comprehend the live of Aboriginal tribes living in central Australia. At present, nearly 85% of
Australians reside within 50 km within the coastline of Northern Territory. It has a population
size over 200 000 people spread across 1.34 million square kilometres with more than 100
different indigenous languages used. However, more than just geography and skin there are
other things that fall apart. The average household of the aboriginals earn about 55% of an
average non-Aboriginal family. This financial crisis is further aggravated with social
problems like unemployment and high rate of imprisonment (AIHW, 2016). The lack of
proper employment and proper living condition force them to pass on to depression leading to
increase in the tendency of substance abuse (Black, et al., 2015).
After studying and knowing about the aboriginal healthcare condition, I realised that
my previous understanding was biased. I used only blame the poor lifestyle and the
healthcare habits of the Aboriginal people due to their poor health outcomes. I had no
previous experience or knowledge about how they reside under poor socio-economic