Factors Affecting Indigenous Health: A Sociology Essay

This essay delves into the multifaceted challenges impacting the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia. It meticulously examines the interplay of social, political, and economic factors that contribute to significant health disparities. The essay explores the impact of poor social circumstances, including lack of education, historical trauma, discrimination, and substance misuse, on the emotional and physical well-being of Indigenous Australians. It analyzes the influence of political and economic issues, such as high unemployment, inadequate education facilities, and inequitable policies, highlighting their interconnectedness. Furthermore, the essay emphasizes the need for modified strategies and effective methods to improve education, economic conditions, and employment rates, advocating for a holistic approach to address the social and economic determinants of health within Indigenous communities. The essay concludes by underscoring the Australian government's consistent failure to adopt a comprehensive perspective when addressing the health determinants of Indigenous Australians. This essay offers a comprehensive overview of the factors affecting Indigenous health and is available on Desklib, providing students with valuable insights into the topic.

Running head: SOCIOLOGY
Sociology
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1SOCIOLOGY
Introduction
The term “indigenous health” can be defined as the physical, cultural, social as well as
emotional wellbeing of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) individuals. Currently,
the ATSIs of Australia constitute approximately 2.5 per cent of the nation’s population
(Brackertz & Wilkinson, 2017). A considerable number of indigenous Australians experience
poorer heath compared to other Australians. The mortality age of the indigenous people are
much higher compared to that of the non-indigenous Australians. Indigenous Australians are
more prone to respiratory diseases, psychological issues, cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney
disease as well as diabetes. Along with this, a continued high occur of certain number of diseases
that are unknown to the non indigenous population has also been detected. Among these, notable
diseases include trachoma which is bacterial infection of the eye and rheumatic heart disease.
According to researchers, alcohol, tobacco and other illicit substances are being widely used by
the both the non indigenous as well as indigenous Australians. However, the substance uses
plays a highly significant role when it comes to the gap between the life expectancy and health of
the indigenous as well as non indigenous Australians. . In the following paragraphs, the social,
political as well as economic issues that are responsible for affecting the health of the aboriginal
as well as Torres strait Islander have been analyzed and evaluated.
Body
When it comes to the impact of social issues on the heath of the indigenous Australians,
poor social circumstances accompanied by lack of education, superstitions and financial
resources is to be blamed.

2SOCIOLOGY
Some of the major social issues that are affecting the emotional heath of the ATSI
includes widespread grief and loss, impacts of the stolen generations along with removal of the
children, unresolved trauma, separation from culture along with identity issues, racial and
cultural discrimination, social and economic disadvantages, violence, incarceration and
substance misuse. According to Lee, (2017), the adverse experience associated with racial
discrimination worth specific focus. As per a survey conducted in 2017, more than 63 percent of
the aboriginal and Torres islander community have undergone discrimination that has resulted in
psychological distress. Canuto et al., (2019) pointed out that depression and anxiety leads to
consumption of alcohol and drug abuse which in turn impose adverse impact on their health.
The political and economic issues that impose impact on the health of the Aboriginal and
Torres Islanders are interconnected. The chief economic distress that is imposing impact on both
the mental and physical wellbeing of the indigenous Australian includes high unemployment
rate, lack of education facilities and low income rate (Bainbridge et al., (2015). While the “Close
the Gap’ campaign have been designed by the Council of the Australian government to target the
issues, eminent changes in the economic condition of the aboriginals has not been evidenced.
When it comes to the political determinants of the heath of Aboriginal and Torres
islander individuals, inequitable policies have resulted in inequalities in health resulting
from unequal distribution of power and resources between the Indigenous as well as the non-
Indigenous people. Along with this lack of effective strategies to enhance Aboriginal recruitment
in private and government sectors is highly evident. High illiteracy rate results in superstition
and sexism which in turn is resulting in social issues like domestic violence, unethical killing and
other health hazards (Fogarty et al., 2018). Along with this lack of employment is resulting in
poor and unhygienic lifestyle, depression leading to substance abuse and other mental and

3SOCIOLOGY
physical health concerns. In order to deal with the heath concerns, it is highly crucial for the
government to modify the existing strategies and implement effective strategically methods so
that the education, economic condition and unemployment rate of the indigenous Australian can
be enhanced in the near future.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be clearly understood that the Australian government
has failed consistently to take a holistic view while addressing the social and economic
determinants of health. While the health of the ATSIs gets highly affected by issues like housing,
protective as well as risk factors, the impact of social emotional wellbeing and high depression
rate amongst the indigenous Australians cannot be ignored. The educational and employment
facilities provided to the non indigenous Australian are still not provided to the non indigenous
people. Even after 12 years of the Close the Gap policy, effective strategies to lower the school
dropout rate of the indigenous Australian are still to be taken.

4SOCIOLOGY
Reference List
Bainbridge, R., Tsey, K., McCalman, J., Kinchin, I., Saunders, V., Lui, F. W., ... & Lawson, K.
(2015). No one’s discussing the elephant in the room: contemplating questions of
research impact and benefit in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australian health
research. BMC Public Health, 15(1), 696.
Brackertz, N., & Wilkinson, A. (2017). Research synthesis of social and economic outcomes of
good housing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People. An Australian Housing
and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) Professional services report for the Department
of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Canuto, K., Harfield, S., Wittert, G., & Brown, A. (2019). Listen, understand, collaborate:
developing innovative strategies to improve health service utilisation by Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander men. Australian and New Zealand journal of public health, 43(4),
307-309.
Fogarty, W., Bulloch, H., McDonnell, S., & Davis, M. (2018). Deficit Discourse and Indigenous
Health: How narrative framings of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are
reproduced in policy. Deficit Discourse and Indigenous Health: How Narrative Framings
of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People Are Reproduced in Policy, xii.
Lee, V. S. (2017). Political determinants and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women: don’t
leave your integrity at the political gate. Journal of public health policy, 38(3), 387-393.