Report Writing Task on Health Disparities In Australia

Report Writing Task on Health Disparities In Australia

Introduction

Being social beings community members of any community of any country need to be quite well aware of the problems or struggles they are facing that are putting hindrances to their overall development. Like many other developed nations that are embedded with community problems, Australia is a country that has, for a long, been suffering a specific and significant community issue that has been affecting the lives of myriads of Aboriginals, and deteriorating their condition and quality of life. The primary community problem that would be discussed in the paper is the problem of health disparity and health gap. This discussion is essential because health disparities have always played a major role in widening the gap between the mainstream Australian communities and the Aboriginal communities.

Body

Health Disparities Faced by the Aboriginal Communities in Australia
Members of the Aboriginal communities are faced with myriads of problems among which proper access to primary health care is a significant one from different perspectives. One should take into account the fact that not only there is a pay and earning gap between the concerned community’s members and the members of the mainstream white Australian community; there is a substantial health gap between the communities, and the health disparities have been admitted by the Government of Australia at almost every level. People belonging to the Aboriginal community are already faced with financial crises that have led to the rise in the rate of mortality and morbidity among the children, adult females, adult males, and older adults belonging to the community (AIHW, 2018). The Australian Government has pointed out that the cultural gap between the communities constituting Australia sometimes makes it impossible for the formulation and implementation of equity programs in the sphere of health care in every community in Australia (AIHW, 2018). Most of the people in the Aboriginal communities reside in rural areas which makes them more vulnerable to scarcity of access to better health care provisions and primary health care observations (AIHW, 2018). Health disparities have eventually triggered a potential menace, i.e. steadily surging the rate of mortality among the concerned community’s members and causing them to experience shorter life expectancy, and all these owe their debt to the disparities and inequalities practised in the sphere of providing health care to the citizenry (irrespective of their caste, creed, ethnicity etc.) of Australia. It should also be taken into account that health disparities, and particularly the inaccessibility to primary health care facilities and services compel the members of the Aboriginal community to embrace a poor quality of life that is infused with disabilities, disadvantages, illnesses, and a fragile mental condition that makes most of them more prone to social illnesses like substance abuse.
It must also be taken into account that the members of the Aboriginal community are faced with the menace and evil of institutionalised discrepancy that has been triggered mostly by the cultural dominance of the White, Anglo-Australian population in specific (). Therefore, racial discrimination should be considered to be a major factor behind the health disparities that have put the lives of many of the Aboriginal people at stake (Durey & Thompson, 2018). Racist views and racist oppressions are among the most definite reasons why the Aboriginal and indigenous Australian populations are facing health gaps and wealth gaps. In this regard, it is noteworthy that, the current health policies and practices in Australia despite favouring standardised care, is the one that is suppressing the voice of the marginalized communities including the Aboriginal community (AIHW, ). There must be steps taken to address the issue and break the barriers that are deteriorating the health condition of the majority of the people belonging to the concerned community.

What should be done?
To address and mitigate the issue in both the short-and long-run the government of Australia must come forward with some viable solutions. In this respect, it becomes an imperative for the Australian Health department in specific (along with the Australian Government and other interest groups and NGOs) to formulate, develop, and enact health policies that would focus on the holistic development of the people of the Aboriginal community. For instance, the physical, emotional, cultural, spiritual and ecological viewpoints of the Aboriginal people must come forward and must be accommodated in the course of health care quality development (Durey & Thompson, 2018). The more the representatives from the Aboriginal communities will be able to convey their grievances in a proper way to the government through becoming representatives in the government and on the social media platforms; the greater will be the chances to gradually blur health care discrepancies; paving the way for the overall development of a health care provision system that should be egalitarian in nature and equitable in terms of spreading across the country.

Conclusion
The pivotal reason behind the discrimination practised by the majority members of the mainstream Australian society, who despises any advantage for the indigenous population, is a blow to the face of humanity. Problems like health disparity will only bring more complications and will surely instigate more cultural hatred. Hence, in this respect, the culture of health care providers must be made more egalitarian to address the healthcare access issue.