The Manifestation of Racism in the Australian Healthcare System

This essay critically analyzes the manifestation of racism within the Australian healthcare system, focusing on its detrimental effects on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. It highlights disparities in life expectancy, funding allocation, and cultural competency, drawing on statistics a...Read More

Running head: RACISM IN HEALTHCARE
RACISM IN AUSTRALIAN HEALTHCARE SYSTEM
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Introduction.
With Australia’s healthcare industry still surviving the brunt of a rather stretched
relationship of service with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, it becomes important
to consider the aspect of institutional racism in its barest and most evident form in the
country. Racism in established professional institutions around the world has been a
normalized phenomenon all over the world. There are countless evidences in the form of
personal reports to scholarly literature that claim witness to racism in one form or the other.
There are scores of publications which attest to the claims of racist perceptions within the
professional spheres and a respectable number of them belong to describing how these
aspects of racism manifest within the healthcare system. This essay discusses the
manifestation of perceptible aspects of racism within the healthcare system of Australia and
attempts to bring some signifying information to light. With reference to vital publications
found in related fields, this essay looks for the prevalence of racism within the system, in
terms of records, report as well as statistics. For Australia, a country with a significant
number of population belonging to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, it
becomes and important thing to look at the contemporary aspects of institutional racism that
is currently working within the system so that the matter can be properly looked into for
amendment as well.
Discussion.
As Henry, Houston & Mooney (2004) point out, some statistics from the early part of
the 21st century indicated that Australian indigenous people, both male and female, have an
average life expectancy at birth approximately 20 years less than a non - indigenous
Australian. Their paper has pointed out certain areas that need to be looked into, as the key
contributor for the development of spreading of institutional racism within the healthcare
industry. Some of those categories are still relevant today, despite the 2008 National Apology

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made by the Government of Australia. The National Apology was a move directed towards
identifying the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders as the first people of the land, giving
them their due claims to the various rights that they have been denied and providing for better
access to all services, starting with healthcare and education. One of the key areas that was
identified as detrimental in terms of racist manifestations, was the funding. The funds
allocated for dispensing healthcare services to the indigenous populations do not fulfil all the
medical needs of the population (Awofeso 2011).
The healthcare system in Australia has been on a gradual rise over the past few years.
This has been a significant contributor to the rising mortality rate in Australia as well. In a
recent statistics provided by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, it was shown how the life
expectancy and death has grown significantly in just one year. The statistics showed that the
jump in life expectancy from 2013 to 2014 has been significant at approximately 4 %. This
has ensured that both Australian males and Australian females experience an average life
expectancy at over 80 years of age. Australia has therefore become one of the seven global
countries to have a mortality rate above 80 years of age. This high and gradually increasing
number of life expectancy shows that the Australian Healthcare has been improving its
functionality in terms of provision of better medical and healthcare services.
This is where a significant discrepancy can be noticed. According to Australian
Bureau of Statistics 2019 report, the average life expectancy of the aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander communities lie at approximately 8 to 10 years lower than the non –
indigenous people. The report highlights that in the years from 2015 – 2017, the average life
expectancy of aboriginal males was 8.6 years lower and that of aboriginal females was 7.8
years lower than those of the non - indigenous people. Similarly, with the remoteness of the
geographical location, the difference becomes more prominent with the numbers for the
difference in both the cases going up to as high as 13. 8 to 14.0 years lower, for males and

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females respectively. For a country with an average life expectancy at birth being 80 years,
the same categories for the indigenous population showing numbers in the 65 – 75 years
range, is a troublesome indicator for the limitations of the Australian healthcare system when
it comes to providing effective and un – prejudiced service to the aboriginal people. Thus an
aspect of discrimination can also be perceived in this case.
Another key area that was identified to be correlated with racist manifestations within
the healthcare system, is the differential spending that the system makes with respect to body
colour. The funds allocated for white people and black people are not different, but the
system tends to overspend in case of the former while restricting funds use in the case of the
latter, indicating towards colourism as one of the most prevalent racist behaviours within the
system (Henry, Houston & Mooney 2004; Mapedzahama et al. 2012). Cultural harmony and
competence has been identified as a crucial source for community strength, resilience,
identity, happiness as well as confidence. However, the current trends of racist practices that
are being observed within the healthcare system tends to overshadow the positive attributions
that are made with being culturally competent. Even with the introduction of several schemes
and services that are expected to bridge the gap between the healthcare service provision
between the indigenous and the non - indigenous populations, the current divide is still
significantly high (Durey 2010). Bourke, Marrie and Marrie (2019) also state that most of the
times, the factor that affects an indigenous patient badly is the personal perception of racism
within a healthcare service, by the professionals. They point out that the prevalence and
manifestation of institutional racism is a key influencer for personal beliefs and practices
regarding racist ideals (Bourke, Marrie & Marrie 2019). Similarly, Bastos et al. (2018) also
point out that the link between racial discrimination and health is significantly affected by the
ethnicity of the patient and the kind of belief that the professionals hold towards that
particular community.

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The effects of racism and discrimination on the society is a big reason for a multitude
of significant issues. The large scale impact of prevalent racism in different sectors of the
Australian society can be significantly classified into physical, mental as well as social
(Thayer 2015). It has also been stated that the physical and mental health conditions of an
expectant mother is also crucially important for the development of the baby (Thayer 2015).
Thayer (2015) mentions an example that because of the women with higher stress hormones
in their system give birth to babies who have lower weight, thereby affecting the overall
growth and wellbeing of the child in the future as well. Therefore, the prevalent aspects of
discrimination and racism in the Australian healthcare industry is a valid reason for the
detrimental effects on these domains of health. This has raised significant concerns in
different sectors that deal with inclusion and equality, regarding the overall wellbeing of
babies, given that racial discrimination is a significant cause for a variety of physical and
mental health issues in people.
There are efforts being made to bridge the gap between the healthcare provisions for
non – indigenous and indigenous Australians. Despite these efforts, many indigenous people
fall a victim to the more detrimental side effects of racism within the healthcare system. The
disadvantage does not stick solely to the indigenous people as patients, racism also affects the
people who are looking towards the healthcare system as a profession. There are numerous
reports of students and practitioners belonging to the indigenous communities who have been
subjected to moderate to extreme racial discrimination. Aubusson (2017) points out the
example of one indigenous student who faced severe racial discrimination on her path to
becoming a practicing nurse in the healthcare system. This is one of the countless examples
of perception of racism within healthcare system that has rendered accessing the full benefits
of the healthcare system by the indigenous people quite difficult and almost next to
impossible. Indigenous marginalisation has been an actively occurring phenomenon within

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the healthcare system of Australia (Markwick et al. 2019) and it requires active intervention
on the part of both the people as well as the government to ensure that a non - discriminated
healthcare system is put in place for the effective functioning of the domain.
Conclusion.
Racism in Australian healthcare system has been extant for a very long time and
because of the microaggressions against the indigenous population of the country, the
healthcare system has significantly disadvantaged the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
communities both as patients as well as practicing professionals. With the current trends in
professional ethics and cultural competency training gaining strong support across
professions, it has become a dire requirement in the healthcare system that people are
provided, not only appropriate training, but also education regarding human rights as well as
certain National Documents and legislations that make discrimination on the basis of race, a
precarious legal aspect as well.

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References.
Aubusson, K. 2017. Racism in the health system plagues efforts to close the gap for
Indigenous Australians, report shows. [online] The Sydney Morning Herald. Available at:
https://www.smh.com.au/healthcare/racism-in-the-health-system-plagues-efforts-to-close-
the-gap-for-indigenous-australians-report-shows-20170315-guyhz4.html [Accessed 1 Jan.
2020].
Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2014. Life Expectancies and Deaths Hit Historic Highs,
viewed 22 December 2019,
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats%5Cabs@.nsf/mediareleasesbyCatalogue/
F95E5F868D7CCA48CA25750B0016B8D8
Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2018. Life Expectancies and Deaths Hit Historic Highs,
viewed 22 December 2019, https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by
%20Subject/3302.0.55.003~2015-2017~Media%20Release~Life%20expectancy%20lowest
%20in%20remote%20and%20very%20remote%20areas%20(Media%20Release)~15
Awofeso, N., 2011. Racism: a major impediment to optimal Indigenous health and health
care in Australia. Australian Indigenous Health Bulletin, 11(3), pp.1-8.
Bastos, J.L., Harnois, C.E. and Paradies, Y.C., 2018. Health care barriers, racism, and
intersectionality in Australia. Social Science & Medicine, 199, pp.209-218.
Bourke, C.J., Marrie, H. and Marrie, A., 2019. Transforming institutional racism at an
Australian hospital. Australian Health Review, 43(6), pp.611-618.
Durey, A., 2010. Reducing racism in Aboriginal health care in Australia: where does cultural
education fit?. Australian and New Zealand journal of public health, 34, pp.S87-S92.
Henry, B.R., Houston, S. and Mooney, G.H., 2004. Institutional racism in Australian
healthcare: a plea for decency. Medical Journal of Australia, 180(10), pp.517-520.

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Mapedzahama, V., Rudge, T., West, S. and Perron, A., 2012. Black nurse in white space?
Rethinking the in/visibility of race within the Australian nursing workplace. Nursing
inquiry, 19(2), pp.153-164.
Markwick, A., Ansari, Z., Clinch, D. and McNeil, J., 2019. Experiences of racism among
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults living in the Australian state of Victoria: a cross-
sectional population-based study. BMC public health, 19(1), p.309.
Thayer, Z 2015, 'Discrimination Is Bad for Your Health – and Your Kids Too', The
Conversation, 27 January, viewed 22 December 2019,
https://theconversation.com/discrimination-is-bad-for-your-health-and-your-kids-too-36054