Health Disparity between Australias Non-Indigenous and Indigenous People - Essay Example

Title: The considerable health disparity between Australia’s non indigenous and indigenous people can be significantly improved by educating more indigenous nurses Student’s Name: Institutional Affiliation: Date Assignment is due: The short essay: In every developed country, indigenous populations differ in trends, patterns and levels relating to health. However, the most noticeable difference in all these countries is the health statuses and concerns. In Australia, racism is to blame for the low levels of healthcare services penetration into regions inhabited by the aborigine populations. I believe that the situation can be improved through giving more educational opportunities to indigenous nurses. Some indigenous populations fear going to seek medical services in medical facilities that where nurses are of non-indigenous origin. If indigenous nurses were offered training and given opportunities to work hand in hand with non-indigenous nurses, the racism problem would be dealt a significant blow. The problem of disparities in health care in Australian can be addressed well if health professionals were made aware of the major role that they can play in dramatically reducing mortality and morbidity among indigenous populations. The highest priority area as far as the health needs of the non-indigenous people are concerned is ensuring community-wide accessibility to affordable primary health care facilities. In Australia, it is worrying that the gap in provision of health care services between these two populations seems to be widening, and the trend is worrying. In sharp contrast, the gap is narrowing in New Zealand, Canada and the United States of America. In Australia, there is a mortality gap of 17 years between the indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. The mortality rate also remains higher among this marginalized population across the disease spectrum. I am of the opinion that if more indigenous nurses were trained and given opportunities to practice in areas where the population can access the services, the problem can be addressed easily. The high ratio of indigenous people who face avoidable deaths would be reduced. Most of the diseases which many people of indigenous origin face are diagnosable and treatable but there exists very few opportunities for these services to be accessed. Ring (2003, p. 2) observes that death rates among aboriginal communities can be halved within merely three years if these people were given high quality diagnosis and treatment services in a systematic manner, where aboriginal nurses will be part of the medical fraternity. This would give an assurance to the indigenous population that racism can be fought and that each person has a right to sufficient health care services. It is only indigenous nurses who can be effective in introducing indigenous medical perspectives into the system so that it is acceptable and friendlier to local communities. This implies that some changes ought to be made concerning the culture of medicine. These changes would best be pursued through the perspective of macropolitical and socioeconomic interventions (Ring 2003, p. 2). The race-based inequalities that exist in the health sector have also permeated the education sector. For this reason, I think that building more tertiary medical institutions is not all that should be done; a significant number of admission slots should be set aside for indigenous applicants. From there, it would be easy to tackle instances of racism within these institutions as these indigenous students try to achieve as much as they can within the existing system. Once they complete their studies, they should be given incentives to go and introduce indigenous medicine perspectives to the indigenous communities. I believe that policymakers need to be informed about the urgency with which the health care disparity problem should be handled. It is only policymakers who can bring about real change in efforts to bring an end to racism. The decisions that politicians make determine where funding will be provided to local health care facilities and whether strict statutory measures will be enforced to deal with perpetuators of racism and divisive politics. The indigenous staff may be given training on the basis of the Western healthcare delivery model, although it would be a good idea to bring in cultural insights as well as community grounding in order to offer the indigenous people a rare opportunity of enriching the medical professional. It is unfortunate that in some quarters, the disparities that exist in provision of health services seem to have been accepted, complacency on this issue should never be encouraged since all the appropriate remedies are understood only that some people in positions of authority in Australia do not consider it a wise idea to implement these remedial measures, majority of which have to do with training and recruitment of more indigenous nurses. Although there are many differences in health patterns between individual indigenous populations and the non-indigenous ones, these differences should not be the basis of a divisive approach to provision of health care. Matters of immunity against certain diseases should not be used as a justification to deny these people the services that they badly need. National programs should be based on a sense of equality rather than selective planning. National training programs that are directed to indigenous health professionals should be prioritized. A report published on The Independent Weekly, titled Racism must be tackled to help indigenous health: study, reveals that 93 per cent of Torres Strait Islanders and aboriginal people had experienced one form of racism or the other. The report also indicates that people who had encountered racism were not willing to seek medical and educational opportunities for fear of racial humiliation, an experience that they would never want to go through in the future. I am convinced that many indigenous peoples in all developed countries have a similar tale to tell. In such a situation, Australia’s medical setting needs to be changed. Whatever changes are suggested, medical practitioners of indigenous ancestry have to be put on the frontline so that the negative perceptions on racism that exist among the population may dissipate. According to The Australian Medical Association, the Council of Australian governments have made a commitment worth some $1.6 billion, aimed at initiating indigenous health programs. However, in an article entitled: Closing the Indigenous Health Gap - Time to Get It Right, Australia, AMA propounds the argument that there is much that needs to be done in order to bridge the inequities that exist in provision of medical services to both communities. I also believe the same thing. A long-term national health care plan for the indigenous population should be put in place in such a way that a multifaceted approach will be used throughout the implementation process. The annotated bibliography: Ring, I, 2003, ‘The health status of indigenous peoples and others’, BMJ, Vol. 327, No. 2, pp. 404-405. Ian Ring is an adjunct professor. The article addresses the disparities that exist in health matters between indigenous and non-indigenous populations in nations that are developed. Ring argues that the healthcare gap that exists between these two populations in Australian, Canada, United States and New Zealand is narrowing but more needs to be done This is a journal article whose intended audience is members of the medical profession whose decisions are very critical in determining whether the existing disparities are reduced or not. Ring concludes that provision of primary healthcare services should be made a priority for indigenous people in order to address the disparities. The information given in the journal article is reliable but its only limitation is that it does to give specific attention to the Australian case. I consider it an insightful text for health practitioners in Australia. Australian Medical Association, 2010, Closing the Indigenous Health Gap - Time To Get It Right, Australia, retrieved from http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/183508.php on April 20, 2010. The Australian Medical Association (AMA) is a body that brings together medical practitioners in Australia. This article is authored by this body and it is published in a website that is targeted to the public as opposed to is a typical website information source that is intended to provide information, facts and opinions, and news to the public. The Association has indicated that the information given in the article is not meant to act as a substitute to informed medical advice. It is stated in the article that the Australian government recognizes the imbalances that exist in the provision of healthcare services and it has even set aside $1.6 billion indigenous health programs. The author concludes that the Australian government should carry out an overhaul of the nursing fraternity in order to encourage provision of services to the indigenous people. I consider the text to be a reliable one on account of giving factual information about the government’s health care improvement plans. The Independent Weekly, Racism must be tackled to help indigenous health: study, 26 March, 2009, viewed on April 20, 2010 from http://www.independentweekly.com.au/news/local/news/general/racism-must-be-tackled-to-help-indigenous-health-study/1470610.aspx This article was published on The Independent Weekly and it is about racism in Adelaide. In this city, the report says, racism between is so rampant that between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians some indigenous Australians fear seeking medical treatment for fear of this unethical practice. Health disparities between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians will not end unless racism is tackled, a new study shows. The context of this news item is a study done in Adelaide and a hypothesis of the outcome that would be realized if a similar study was to be done on an interstate basis. The news item is credible on account of proper research having been carried out as implied through mention of the researchers and the institutions involved. The news item is expected to reach primarily the Australian audience and secondarily the global audience, and shocking facts such as a life expectancy difference of 17 years between indigenous and non-indigenous population are used to attract attention. Reference Ring, I, 2003, ‘The Health Status of Indigenous Peoples and Others’, BMJ, Vol. 327, No. 2, pp. 404-405. Read More