Analysis of Obesity and Health Disparities in Aboriginal Adults

This report focuses on obesity and its impact on the health of Aboriginal adults in Australia, examining the various factors contributing to their vulnerability. It delves into the social determinants of health, health inequalities, and inequities, highlighting the adverse health outcomes experienced by this population. The report identifies the health department as the target audience for policy recommendations and resource allocation. It provides actionable recommendations to improve health outcomes, addressing issues like diabetes, mental health, smoking, and injury, all of which are exacerbated by obesity. The report emphasizes the need for targeted interventions and policy changes to address the health disparities faced by Aboriginal adults, with the goal of improving their overall well-being. It also provides insights into the impact of obesity on the population and the challenges in accessing healthcare and proposes solutions to improve the health of the aboriginal population.

Obesity in Aboriginal Adults
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Reasons for considering the chosen population as vulnerable........................................................2
Health disparity impact the population............................................................................................7
Identification of the target audience................................................................................................9
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
Aboriginal adults in Australia is the chosen population for this paper. The primary objective of
the report is to evaluate the health disparity that impacts the selected population. Besides this, it
will discuss the health inequalities, inequities and outcomes that show the reason for considering
the population as vulnerable. A target audience will also be identified to make policy decisions
or allocate resources for aboriginal adults. Moreover, few recommendations will be provided to
enhance the health outcomes of the population.
Reasons for considering the chosen population as vulnerable
Social determinants of health
Social determinants of health are the complex situations in which the individuals born and live
that influence their health (Adler, Glymour & Fielding, 2016). The SDOH includes the following
that impacts aboriginal adults:
Social environment – It consist of factors like income, gender and social status. The factors
adversely affect the physical as well as mental health of the population in various ways, which
include increased risk of infectious disease, lack of control over living conditions, use of alcohol
or insufficient diet. Moreover, aboriginal adults experience racism as well as discrimination that
contributes to chronic stress and reduce access to health care. Aboriginal adults receive low
income as compared to the non-aboriginal adults that led to health inequalities.

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Physical environment – It refers to the area where the individuals live. The aboriginal adults face
critical challenges due to living in remote areas. The living or housing conditions is not as good
as compared to non-aboriginal adults. The factors in the physical environment involve supply
and treatment of water, dust control, sewage disposal, adequate maintenance of overcrowding,
and access to healthy food impact the health of the aboriginal adults (Marmot & Bell, 2016).
Various types of health issues affect the population as a result of overcrowding, contaminated
food and poor access to safety.
Individual behavior – It is found that the indigenous adults who are employed shows healthy
behavior while the adults have low employment status shows unhealthy behavior. Population
with low income are more likely to smoke and use alcohol. It is seen that the aboriginal adults
consume alcohol 2.3 times than the non-aboriginal adults in Australia (Garg, Boynton-Jarrett &
Dworkin, 2016).
Health services – Access to health care is considered as the significant determinants of health for
aboriginal adults. The aboriginal adults experience poor health due to minimum access to health
care. Moreover, the population does not have any health insurance and cannot access to quality
health services that affect their health. The non-aboriginal population enjoy the health services
that prevent diseases in comparison to the aboriginal population.

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Health inequalities
The aboriginal adults face health inequalities in Australia, which impact the health status of the
population. It is seen that indigenous adults have a shorter life expectancy than non-indigenous
adults. It is noticed that the vulnerable population face major health issues in comparison to the
non-indigenous inhabitants in Australia. Besides this, the aboriginal people are 2.9 times likely to
have hearing issues, 2.7 times likely to smoke, 1.9 times are likely to have low birth weight, 2.7
times experience a high level of psychological distress as compared to the non-aboriginal
individuals (Markwick, Ansari, Sullivan & McNeil, 2015). Moreover, 98% of the non-
indigenous individuals used to live in non-remote areas, whereas only 79% of the aboriginal
adults use to live in such areas.
Furthermore, the indigenous adults experience the risk of disease 2.3 times the rate faced by non-
indigenous adults. Mental disorder, heart disease, obesity, smoking and other injuries increase
the risk of disease among the selected population. On the other hand, the risk of disease is less
among the non-indigenous adults because they access to quality health services and use safety as
well as health food as compared to the indigenous population. Besides this, the rate of mortality
is higher among the selected population, while the mortality rate is less in non-aboriginal adults.
In addition, the morbidity means the presence of more than one chronic condition is also frequent
among aboriginal adults than the non-indigenous. The aboriginal women experience a high rate
of family violence compared to the others. It is evident that they experience sexual abuse five
times the rate of non-aboriginal women in Australia (Arjunan et al., 2016).

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Health inequities
It refers to the difference or disparity in the health outcomes that are avoidable as well as
systematic. It is found that the aboriginal men have 69.1 year life expectancy while the non-
aboriginal women have 79.9 year life expectancy (Thurber et al., 2018). The shorter life
expectancy reduces the number of population and increases health problems. Besides this,
indigenous women experience double the rate of maternal mortality due to inability to access
quality health services. As a consequence, the gap between health equality raises in Australia.
Moreover, the rate of hospitalization also high due to chronic disease among the aboriginal
population. The rate of employment for the chosen population is 48% as compared to 75% for
the non-vulnerable population (Markwick, Ansari, Clinch & McNeil, 2019). In addition, the
weekly income for the population was $542 in comparison to $852 for the other population.
These cause huge health gap between the population groups in Australia. Moreover, the
aboriginal people have a severe disability due to inaccessibility to the quality health services.
They face difficulties to access to the health services or equipment, which increase the risk of
other diseases. Several barriers influence the aboriginal adults to access to health care services,
which involves shortage of medical benefits along with general practitioners in remote areas,
lack of awareness of the existing health services, lack of affordable health services, lack of
female health professionals, lack of information available in other languages and lack of
affordable transport (Schuch et al., 2017). The population with low-income distribution are less
likely to afford distant health services. As a result, health problems increase, which raise the rate
of mortality. The lower level of access to primary care increase the hospitalization rate and
decrease the usage of Medicare benefits.

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Health outcomes
Several health issues impact the aboriginal population, which are discussed below:
Diabetes – It is seen that the prevalence of type 2 diabetes among the population is 30% that
cause high chronic kidney disease. As compared to the other population, the aboriginal group
develop diabetes at a young age. It is also estimated that diabetes is one of the underlying causes
of death of the chosen population in the current year because they are likely to have 3.3 times
diabetes of non-aboriginal adults.
Mental health – It is found that the population face a high level of psychological distress than the
other population group. It is difficult to define the mental health status of the population in
Australia because of having little sources for evidence. The mental health issue accounted for
4.4% of hospitalizations of aboriginal people, which is twice the rate of non-aboriginal adults
(Caffery, Bradford, Meurer & Smith, 2017).
Smoking – 45% of the native adults are daily smokers that contribute to chronic disease.
Smoking caused a high rate of mortality among the native adults. It also causes respiratory
disease, which accounted for 5.4% of hospitalizations.
Injury – Injury along with poisoning are the leading causes of hospitalization for the native
adults that accounted for 7.2% of the population for hospitalization (Sutherland, Hindmarsh,
Moran & Levesque, 2017). The cause of injury is an accident and assault that led to the death of
the chosen population.
Obesity – The health issue is more prevalent among the aboriginal people as compared to other
population of Australia. 39% of the indigenous population has obesity that caused due to

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numerous factors such as poor mental along with physical health, individual behavior, poor
healthy diet and overcrowded living conditions (Webb & Williams, 2018). The evidence
indicates that obesity is significantly higher among indigenous women than men and is
connected with a burden of disease.
Health disparity impact the population
Obesity is the major health issue among the aboriginal adults that increase the risk of multiple
health conditions that consists of diabetes, sleeping disorder, cancer and respiratory issues (Huse
et al., 2018). The aboriginal population used to live in remote areas who have a serious problem
in accessing mental health services. However, mental health care or services in the remote area is
provided through health centres, hospitals, and a number of general practitioners. Obesity is
considered as the highest contributor to the burden of disease among the indigenous population
(Gray, 2017). More than two-thirds of the vulnerable adults are obese that cause thousands of
death each year in Australia. Low physical activity and high-energy intake are the two major
factors that contribute to obesity. The remote areas do not contain health clinics as well as
general practice clinic for delivering quick health services or vaccination to the vulnerable obese
people. Evidence shows that only 20% of the indigenous adults consult with the general
practitioner or health specialist regarding the health issue. The reason for the lack of health
clinics in the remote areas is a lack of funding as well as accommodation. It is perceived by the
health practitioners that there are very few places to stay that also costs high in comparison to
staying in non-remote areas.

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Lifestyle choices are one of the factors that affect the health of the vulnerable population, which
includes smoking and consumption of alcohol. Moreover, obesity adversely affects the health of
the population as a result of lifestyle. Evidence represents that a high rate of obesity is among the
population with a high rate of poverty and unemployment. Vulnerable adults have a high poverty
rate and low education due to discrimination and racism. The high incidence of obesity in the
vulnerable population is 38.4% in Australia because many adults ignore to access to health
facilities due to fear of discrimination by the health professionals (Waterworth, Dimmock,
Pescud, Braham & Rosenberg, 2016). High unemployment, welfare dependency, poor education,
and overcrowded living conditions are some of the social as well as environmental factors that
impact the health of the vulnerable population. Moreover, aboriginal women feel uncomfortable
to visit GP for checkups that affect their health and increase the risk of many chronic diseases.
Other than this, inadequate availability of fresh along with healthy vegetables and fruit in
isolated areas of Australia impact the quality of lives of the vulnerable population. In addition,
the population also have a heavy burden of lifestyle-related chronic diseases that significantly
impact their health and increase obesity. The research shows that 74.5% of aboriginal men are
obese in comparison to 59.7% of women. Obesity and other risk factors create a burden of
disease on vulnerable adults. Furthermore, physical inactivity, poor nutrition or lack of intake of
fruits and vegetables are responsible for increasing the burden of disease in the vulnerable
Australian population. Health disparity has a crucial effect on the range of health issues such as
obesity and many others in which the issues remain untreated by the health professionals.

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Figure: Obesity among indigenous adults
(Sources: Huse et al., 2018)
Identification of the target audience
The health department is the target audience who is responsible for making policy decisions as
well as allocate resources for the vulnerable population. The health department can implement
change in health practices in the remote areas in order to improve the health conditions of the
vulnerable populations. This audience is chosen because they have decision-making abilities
regarding the aboriginal populations. Health in All Policies is the way of making policies to
develop relationships between health departments to address the social determinants of health
(Quinn et al., 2017). The health department also uses a partnership approach to policy to close
the health gap.

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Recommendations
Few recommendations are provided to the target audience that helps in making decisions for
enhancing the health outcomes of the indigenous population, which are discussed below:
Nurse-led clinics – The research indicates that obesity can be improved in the population only
when there is early identification of the health problem. Moreover, the nurse would lead to better
management of obesity problem that influences the quality of life among the native population.
The teen clinic is available with mental and sexual health services led by the nurse that assist the
aboriginal adults to easily access a range of health care services and enhance the risk of obesity.
Besides this, the JPMC is another nurse-led clinic that enables the local patients to access to
quality wound treatment. Therefore, the health department should allow the trained nurse to lead
a clinic in the remote areas so that the aboriginal adults can quickly access to health services and
reduce the risk of obesity along with other chronic diseases.
Education sessions – It is also recommended to provide effective education sessions for the
chosen population to make them aware of the causes and factors of obesity. Education sessions
should be for two hours in a week, which needs to be provided by the general practitioner. The
GPs should educate the adults about the causes of obesity and provide solutions to prevent the
health issue from leading a quality life.
Targeted screening – The nurse or the other health practitioners should screen the aboriginal
adults who are at high risk of obesity. With the help of screening tests, the health issue can be
detected at an early stage and prevention can be done earlier.

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Change practice – General practice should be changed, which can be done by hiring trained,
experienced and skilled nursing staffs and providing accessible facilities to the people.
Conclusion
Providing education on obesity factors to aboriginal adults could link to standard 2.4: provide
support and directs people to resources to optimize health-related decisions. It is essential for the
nurses to advocate the vulnerable population of Australia suffering from a high risk of obesity. It
is crucial for the nurses to advocate a vulnerable population because it assists in early detection
of the disease and prevents the issue from occurring. The nurses can develop an effective
professional relationship with the population living in remote areas by making them aware of the
health problem. It helps in decreasing the health gap between indigenous and non-aboriginal
adults. Moreover, nurses can provide information as well as education to the people that enable
them to make decisions about their health. Nurses are responsible for ensuring safe health
practice for vulnerable adults, and this is the reason nurses are important to advocate the
population regarding the health issue. Besides this, the health department is the target audience
who make policy decisions for the vulnerable population and improve their health by enhancing
the health status. Income, discrimination, education, individual behavior and health services are
some factors of the social determinates of health that represents evidence which indicates the
reason for considering aboriginal adults as vulnerable.