Deconstructing Health Beliefs: Aboriginal Health Inequality

This essay delves into the health beliefs of Aboriginal Australians, examining the historical and social factors that contribute to health disparities. It deconstructs the stereotype that Aboriginal people do not take care of their health, tracing the roots of this perception to colonization, lack of access to education, healthcare, and the withdrawal of rights. The essay highlights the impact of socioeconomic disadvantages, inadequate housing, and limited access to essential services. It emphasizes the importance of understanding social determinants of health, conducting data analysis, and giving Aboriginal communities equal opportunities. The essay argues for the government to address historical injustices and promote equitable healthcare access and education to improve the health and well-being of Aboriginal Australians. References include key studies on Aboriginal health, stereotypes, and healthcare access.

Running head: HEALTH BELIEFS
HEALTH BELIEFS
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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HEALTH BELIEFS
The main question for the deconstruction assignment is “Why don’t aboriginal people take care
of their own health?”
Stereotyping of the Native people:
Stereotyping of the native people is not a very recent trend among the non-native people. It tends
back to centuries ago when the land of Australia was colonized by Europeans (Reed et al. 2017).
In order to describe the mentality as well as the mindset of the person asking the question, it is
important to travel back to time in order to discuss the era from where the trend of stereotyping
natives were first noted. Important determinants of native health inequality mainly comprises of
lack of proper access to primary health care. Moreover lower standard of health infrastructure
like improper and unhealthy housing, lack of quality and nutritious food, sanitation had all
affected their health for a large number of years. Moreover they are not provided with scope for
education and hence their financial condition could never be improved. All these determinants of
health need to be discussed in order to understand the poor health conditions of the native
Australians.
Before the colonization of the Australians by the Europeans, about 500 peaceful natives resided
in Australia with about 75000 people (Rix et al. 2015). Their culture was also about 60000 years
and such an enriched culture was their pride which had made them the traditional custodians of
the lands of the nation (Durey et al. 2016). Their culture had made them believe that every
physical and mental health disorders can be attended by the culmination of effective
comprehensive outlook for different spiritual and holistic interventions of lives (Kelaher et al.
2014). They shared a strong bond with their motherland. However, their happiness was short
lived as James Cook, a European, initiated colonization of the area by the British army help as he

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found it to be a good place for the accommodation of their overcrowded prisons. From this era,
they started exploitation of the peace loving native people as they were not being able to cope up
with the shrewd mentality and planning of the British. Killing of native people to capture their
lands, spreading of dangerous diseases in the land, stealing their livelihood resources, destruction
the natural resources, emotional and physical violence and many others conflicts continued for
large number of years (Treloar et al. 2016). They have made the population drunkards even went
to the extent of poisoning their food only to clear they form the land (Durey et al. 2016). The
native people were given a little scope to develop their intellectual ability to stand up and fight
back (Kelaher et al. 2014). Hence, the individual who asked the question should first ask “Were
the native Australians given the scope to be educated about their health? Was they made a part of
the health medicine advancement?”
Lack of scope for Native people:
Native people were never given a scope to live respectfully and demand their rights on
the land. As the British people were more planned in their procedures, they made every situation
adverse for the natives so that the community can never see the light of advancement. These had
made the natives illiterate and they had failed to develop any habits which are benefitting for
their health. The British never allowed them in their own constitution and considered them to be
a part of their government. These had affected their self respect to a large extent for which they
have never approached non natives people for the health concerns (Rix et al. 2015). Over the
period of times, conflicts lead to severe conditions where more than half of the population
perished and those who stayed back lacked proper method of effective livelihood. Education
attainment is responsible for influencing health throughout lifespan. It is known that people who
have higher levels of education are able to get better access to healthy as well as social

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environments, better job and income security. They also tend to have a greater sense of control
over life circumstances. Moreover education also helps to make individuals associated with
health awareness, health literacy and self care. All of these lead to improved care and well being.
It has been seen that native people although attain secondary and post secondary education but
their numbers are remarkably less than that compared to non native people. It has been found
that 23.1% of individuals aged 15 and older could not attend high school graduation. It is also
found that 43.7% of all the native people fail to attain education. Hence, they fail to develop
proper healthy living strategies for themselves.
Therefore, the person who is asking the question should first go over the historic events
which show that the native people were not given the scope to extend their knowledge beyond
their own portion of land (Carey et al., 2017). They were not given the scope of education which
made them backward in the society and therefore they could not develop their intellectual skills.
As a result they remained illiterate and they were also not given the chance to educate
themselves about health and the beneficial effects of living healthy lifestyle (Hunt et al. 2015).
Therefore one can ask the question back to the concerned person that ‘whether they were given
the chance to educate themselves and learn about proper habits of living?’
Withdrawals of rights the non native people:
Due to the lack of health literacy as well as the exploitation that occurred in their
community, they had withdrawn themselves from any expectation from the government. The
British had already caused a very poor condition of the community through their inhuman
activities which made native people penniless and their financial power became low (Freeman et
al. 2016). With uneducated backgrounds and poor financial condition, neither they could not

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maintain proper hygienic life nor could they get the scope of proper healthcare for the
government (Hotz et al. 2014).
Moreover, although the exploitation on the native people became less intensified in the
later years but the outlook of the non native people remained the same. They still were
stereotyped for their choice of food, culture and healthcare choices. From the question asked in
the assignment, it clearly depicts a stereotypical outlook for the native people by non native
people (Treloar et al. 2016). However, the main reason behind this, as found from the
deconstruction of the entire background of the question, is poor access and fewer opportunities
for the native people to get access to the healthcare services.
The present government is exhibiting a sympathetic outlook towards them and is trying
their best to make them educated form the very early age along with the establishment of
community schools and higher education centers (Hunt et al. 2015). These are done with the
vision that if they get educated well about their health and surrounding, they will be able to
gather the knowledge and at the same time advice their older generation of good living habits.
Many of the healthcare centers are also sending their staffs for treatment to such communities so
that they can also educate such people about their healthcare and give them good advices (Carey
et al., 2017).
Native Australians do not have equal opportunities to be as healthy as the non native Australians.
The relative socioeconomic disadvantage had been the main reason which had put them at a
higher risk of exposure to different types of environmental as well as environmental health risk
factors. A large number of native households also do not support good health. They do not have
proper services like effective sewage systems, clean drinking water, rubbish collection services,

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healthy and hygienic housing and others. Although improvements on some of the measures for
native people’s health status are made, but they have failed to match the rapid rate with which
health gains are made in the general population of Australia.
It is very important for the present day government to first conduct a social analysis about
the main reason that results in poor health condition of the native people. It is very important to
conduct data analysis about how each of the social determinants of health is affecting their
livelihood. It is very important for the government to pay importance to their demands and
wishes as acceptance of their demands will make them feel included within the government.
However in the domains of health, it is extremely important for them to give the equal rights and
opportunities to the natives as given to the non native people, so that they can also develop
knowledge and learn to take care of themselves in the correct and scientific manner. Excessive
exploitation and stealing of lands in the past, lack of proper education and also lack of proper
housing with proper services, lack of access to health care have been the main reasons for their
poor health. These should be paid importance by the present government to make their condition
better and give them a bright future.

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References:
Carey, T.A., Dudgeon, P., Hammond, S.W., Hirvonen, T., Kyrios, M., Roufeil, L. and Smith, P.,
2017. The Australian Psychological Society's Apology to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
People. Australian Psychologist, 52(4), pp.261-267.
Durey, A., McEvoy, S., Swift-Otero, V., Taylor, K., Katzenellenbogen, J. and Bessarab, D.,
2016. Improving healthcare for Aboriginal Australians through effective engagement between
community and health services. BMC health services research, 16(1), p.224.
Freeman, T., Baum, F.E., Jolley, G.M., Lawless, A., Edwards, T., Javanparast, S. and Ziersch,
A., 2016. Service providers' views of community participation at six Australian primary
healthcare services: scope for empowerment and challenges to implementation. The
International journal of health planning and management, 31(1).
Hotez, P.J., 2014. Aboriginal populations and their neglected tropical diseases. PLoS neglected
tropical diseases, 8(1), p.e2286.
Hunt, L., Ramjan, L., McDonald, G., Koch, J., Baird, D. and Salamonson, Y., 2015. Nursing
students' perspectives of the health and healthcare issues of Australian Indigenous people. Nurse
education today, 35(3), pp.461-467.
Kelaher, M., Sabanovic, H., La Brooy, C., Lock, M., Lusher, D. and Brown, L., 2014. Does more
equitable governance lead to more equitable health care? A case study based on the
implementation of health reform in Aboriginal health Australia. Social Science & Medicine, 123,
pp.278-286.

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Markwick, A., Ansari, Z., Sullivan, M., Parsons, L. and McNeil, J., 2014. Inequalities in the
social determinants of health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People: a cross-sectional
population-based study in the Australian state of Victoria. International journal for equity in
health, 13(1), p.91.
Reed, R.L., McIntyre, E., Jackson-Bowers, E. and Kalucy, L., 2017. Pathways to research impact
in primary healthcare: What do Australian primary healthcare researchers believe works best to
facilitate the use of their research findings?. Health research policy and systems, 15(1), p.17.
Rix, E.F., Barclay, L., Stirling, J., Tong, A. and Wilson, S., 2015. The perspectives of Aboriginal
patients and their health care providers on improving the quality of hemodialysis services: a
qualitative study. Hemodialysis International, 19(1), pp.80-89.
Treloar, C., Jackson, L.C., Gray, R., Newland, J., Wilson, H., Saunders, V., Johnson, P. and
Brener, L., 2016. Multiple stigmas, shame and historical trauma compound the experience of
Aboriginal Australians living with hepatitis C. Health Sociology Review, 25(1), pp.18-32.