Addressing Racism in Aboriginal Healthcare: A Comprehensive Overview

Racism remains a significant barrier within the Australian healthcare system, particularly affecting Indigenous populations. This essay delves into the multifaceted nature of racial discrimination experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples when accessing medical services. By reviewing current literature and media reports, it highlights the consequences of systemic racism on health outcomes. The discussion includes barriers faced by Indigenous students in medical fields and the role of cultural competence training for healthcare professionals. Proposed solutions emphasize the need for policy reforms, community engagement, and targeted anti-racism programs to bridge the health gap. Through a comprehensive review of academic sources and media resources, this essay calls for collaborative efforts to create an equitable healthcare environment.

Running head: CULTURAL COMPETENCY
Cultural Competency
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Introduction:
Being a multi-ethnic and multicultural country, Australia has an increasing diverse
population. Even though there are different people from different ethnicities live in this country,
the sense of racism still prevails in the country. Regardless of numerous efforts of the
government and other nongovernmental organizations, there is still a sense of racism amongst
the general population of Australia (Durey, 2010). Considering the Indigenous population and
their health, it has been found out that they have more health and safety issues than the non-
indigenous people. This may also due to the ongoing health disparities for mistreating the
Indigenous people as a result to colonization in their land. This issue has been raised several
times as the government of the county has tried several times to bring a culturally competent
environment for all the citizens. The concept refers to the major policies that minimize the
inequalities for the quality and access of the health care services within a cross cultural
environment. The culturally competent policies tend to promote cultural tolerance, therefore
enhance the capability of accessing the health care services within different organizations and
ensure that the medical service providers deliver a quality service for all the cultural groups
(Betancourt et al., 2005). However, in Australia, racism influences the health care services to a
great extent. This is quite unfortunate that racism still plays a major part and it has an
intimidating control on the health care providers. Therefore, this essay will trigger this prevalent
issue of racism in the health care services for the culturally minor groups and the impact of
Australian media on such issues.
Media resource one:
Racism on the rise in Australia: Migrants’ reports cultural shift (Marriner, 2014)

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Key problem of the article:
The taken article is from the Sydney Morning Herald. The article shows how the
migrants are reporting more cultural shifts in the country and how people are being harassed
while travelling on the public transport as other co-travelers are asking them questions,
especially on their personal detail such as their origin, where are they living, embarrassing them
due to their skin color or religious belief and how they are being discriminated at their work
places due to their belonging to a racially minor group in the country. Along with that, the article
has also highlighted the ongoing discrimination against the skin color, ethnicity or religious
beliefs. The rate of discrimination in the country has gone up to around 12% in the year 2012
(Marriner, 2014). Australia has already been identified for having highest rate of migration
programs in the country, the migrants tend to complain regarding the prevalence of racist and
discriminatory behavior repeatedly. These experiences of the migrants can also lead them in
having disparity in the health care services which may have a major impact on their health. As
stated by Marriner (2014) until now the racial discrimination act of Australia has not done
anything significant which has led to the belief that people can be racist.
Linking with the recent debate and theories:
There have been several times that the social theorists have highlighted the increasing
issue of racism, yet racism has been a major issue in the Australian society. According to
Eggertson (2015) where many claim that racism has been socially intolerable with the course of
time, on the other hand some studies also show that the public behavior has still been stigmatized
with racial expressions. Therefore it has indicated that even if the nature of racism is changing
with time, but it still exists in thee society. People have also been mistrusted, dangerous due to
their skin color or religious belief. In the past, the migrants in Australia also had societal issues

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and suffered from different settlement issues. Therefore it can be said that racism still persists in
the Australian society even though its nature has changed with time.
Media resource two:
Indigenous health isn’t all bad news. Pulver, L. (2013)
Key problem of the article:
This article on Indigenous health has been taken from the ABC News and written by
Pulver (2013). The article has focused on the major factors of the Australian non-indigenous and
indigenous communities and their media activities. The article also explained that negative
statistics regarding the indigenous health has been continuously highlighted in the Australian
media, whereas the success in making the health care services culturally competent has been
entirely ignored. A major newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald has already identified the last
ten years as a wastage due to the growing rate of kidney disease, diabetes, osteoporosis and
asthma amongst the indigenous population. It has also been found that there is gap of eleven
years of life expectancy rate between the non-indigenous and indigenous people. However, at the
same time there are success stories such as indigenous people giving up smoking has been
ignored in the media. The increasing rate of smoking had brought several health issues in the
indigenous population; however it has reduced to a great extent in past few years. However, this
issue should have been acknowledged by the Australian media, but the media has focused more
on portraying the negative issues regarding the indigenous health. This article also suggests that
the in place of focusing on the negative issues, media should also highlight the positive ones in
order to support the effectual community activities.

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Linking with the recent debate and theories:
The establishment of the health services controlled by the Aboriginal community has
approved the cultural safety of the health issues of indigenous people. However, on the other
hand these organizations are still not capable of providing culturally competent environment
within the health care services (Fanany & Fanany, 2012). Therefore there are several studies that
focus on the negative attitudes of media towards these issues. Therefore overcoming these issues
would be much easier if the medical workers can utilize their knowledge for cultural competency
an deliver that through the media, therefore it would be easier for the organization that are
working towards bringing a culturally competent atmosphere for all.
Media resource three:
Indigenous medical students face barriers to being doctors, Adelaide conference told.
Key problem of the article:
This article has stated that racism still acts as a barrier for a huge number of indigenous
students and it is increasing with the course of time. The medical students who belong to
aboriginal communities tend to face racist attitudes within their work places. People tend to have
a racist approach while they find indigenous people as their patients; therefore the people who
are keen to practice medicine face this issue from their patients. In a recent conference, it has
been said that the indigenous people tend to be very cautious regarding the health system as it
has been experienced that they have been discharged early. Moreover, it has also been identified
that there is a methodical discriminatory attitude against the indigenous communities. Therefore
this article has suggested for making the educational organizations, medical institutions a more
culturally competent environment which can further make the upcoming change possible. Even

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though this article provides few simple solutions for dealing with the racist attitudes in the
Australian society, it is difficult to say that there is little racism in the society which can be dealt
with such solutions. As stated in the article the most effective solution to the racism would be
making the people culturally aware, especially within the health care sector. Culturally
incompetent environment can be an obstruction for the individual growth for the medical
workers and their patients as well.
Linking with the recent debate and theories:
In most the cases, the indigenous people are not treated as similar to the people from non-
indigenous population, rather they are treated as some object for operating in the hospitals. As
the health care sector has a different attitude than the other organizational environment, the
medical workers should have the basic knowledge for cultural competency and safety (Paradies,
2016). Any failure in the language can be a major reason for racist behavior and conflicts.
Therefore these can act as an obstacle for success in the medical career and using the available
health care services for the aboriginal people (Nelson, 2015). Therefore this can also lead to a
huge imbalance in power as well. There are several instances where the aboriginal students face
racist attitudes in their schools or work places. Furthermore it can also lead to a serious
withdrawal of the bright students from medical careers. Also the aboriginal patients are also
treated in a different way while they tend to access the health services. Therefore it is entirely the
responsibility of the organizations to make their working atmosphere culturally competent by
making people more knowledgeable regarding the cultural differences and why it should be
preserved.

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Media resource four:
Racism rife in school, finds study (Marriner, 2013)
Key problem of the article:
` This article indicates to the issue of facing racism in school. The data has shown that four
children out of five who have English as a second language in their schools tend to face racist
attitudes in school. The rate of facing such attitudes is at least one time in a month. After conduct
a thorough research amongst the students of four high schools and five primary schools in
Victoria, it can be found out that ‘you do not belong to Australia’ is one of the most used
sentences towards the non-Australian students (Marriner, 2013)). It can also been seen that they
are not being included in other activities such as sports. The students also tend to hit them due to
the prevalence of racism in their attitude. Therefore it also indicates that the children are learning
such behavior as they watch such activities around them, even by the elders. Another data has
indicated that the racist attitudes have increased as around 55% students consider racism as a
major issue at their schools.
Linking with the recent debate and theories:
Racism is still a prevalent issue in the Australian society as the national data also
considers the prevalence of racist attitudes amongst the general population. People tend to face
such attitudes in different situations in life. Another set of data shows that the around 27% of
students over the age of fifteen tend to experience the discriminatory attitude, especially within
the school settings, employment situations or general public places (Truasheim, 2014). It has also
been indicated that this sense of racism has also been extended to the health care settings which
tend to increase the inequalities in the health care services.

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Personal Reflection:
My experience with racism says that racist attitudes persist everywhere around the world.
It is not only for the aboriginal people, but it is also for the Asians and the others who do not
belong to Australia. The four media articles presented here also showed that racism has
indirectly or directly affected those health care services of the migrants and the aboriginal
people. There are several organizations and the Australian government is working together for
overcoming this issue. However they still require adequate funding for bringing an environment
that is culturally safe and competent. Moreover within the health care services, the medical
workers should have the attitude for treating all their patients in a similar way. There should
always be an equal approach for the provided health services. Along with that, the Australian
media should also provide the positive news to the population, not only the negative ones. The
positive news can also influence others to work together for bringing a culturally safe setting for
everyone.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, it can be said that the health care sector is entirely different than any other
sector; therefore the medical workers should have a culturally sound attitude while treating their
patients along with while they are being served by an aboriginal medical worker. Therefore for
overcoming the racist attitudes in the health care sectors, the medical organizations should take
effective steps for making people aware regarding the negative sides of such racist behavior and
the importance of respecting the cultural differences. They can also conduct campaigns that
would be able to make a difference in the ongoing racism in the country.

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Reference list
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Cultural Politics Of Education, 28(1), 69-85.Retrieved from
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01596300601073630
Betancourt, J., Green, A., Carrillo, J., & Park, E. (2005). Cultural Competence And Health Care
Disparities: Key Perspectives And Trends. Health Affairs, 24(2), 499-505.Retrieved from
http://dx.doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.24.2.499
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(1), 87-92. doi:
10.1111/j.1753-6405.2010.00560.x
Eggertson, L. (2015). Election 2015: closing the Aboriginal health gap. Canadian Medical
Association Journal, 187(16), E469-E470.Retrieved
fromhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.109-5155
Fanany, R., & Fanany, D. (2012) Health as a Social Experience Melbourne: Palgrave Macmillan.
Kwate, N. (2014). “Racism Still Exists”: A Public Health Intervention Using Racism
“Countermarketing” Outdoor Advertising in a Black Neighborhood. Journal Of Urban
Health, 91(5), 851-872.Retrieved fromhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11524-014-9873-8
Nelson, J. (2015). Racism and Anti-Racism in Families: Insights from Performativity Theory.
Sociology Compass, 9(6), 487-498.Retrieved fromhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12268
Nurses can help close the gap. (2014, March). Australian Nursing & Midwifery Journal, 21(8),
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p=AONE&u=ntu&id=GALE
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Paradies, Y. (2016). Colonisation, racism and indigenous health. Journal Of Population
Research, 33(1), 83-96. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12546-016-9159-y
Truasheim, S. (2014). Cultural safety for aboriginal and Torres Strait islander adults within
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Appendix
Media resource One:
http://www.smh.com.au/national/racism-on-the-rise-in-australia-migrants-report-cultural-shift-
20140405-365a5.html
Media resource Two:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-11/jackson-pulver-indigenous-health/5150064
Media resource Three:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-24/racism-a-barrier-for-indigenous-medical-students-
being-doctors/6802730
Media resource Four:
http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/racism-rife-in-schools-finds-study-20140412-
36jzd.html