Question

Provide an example of how the changing practices in Australia impact on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in your region, e.g. funding or healthcare resource allocation.

Answer 1

Improving the health status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is a longstanding challenge for governments in Australia. While there have been improvements made in some areas since the 1970s (notably in reducing high rates of infant mortality) overall progress has been slow and inconsistent. The inequality gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and other Australians remains wide and has not been progressively reduced. With a significant proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in younger age groups, there is an additional challenge to programs and services being able to keep up with the future demands of a burgeoning population.Unless substantial steps are taken now, there is a very real prospect that the health status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples could worsen. A steady, incremental approach will not reduce the significant health disparities between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and other Australians. There is a need for commitments to a course of action, matched with significant funding increases over the next 20-25 years, if there is to be real and sustainable change.

Effectively addressing health disparities between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians is long overdue. Health services engaging Aboriginal communities in designing and delivering healthcare is one way to tackle the issue. This paper presents findings from evaluating a unique strategy of community engagement between local Aboriginal people and health providers across five districts in Perth, Western Australia. Local Aboriginal community members formed District Aboriginal Health Action Groups (DAHAGs) to collaborate with health providers in designing culturally-responsive healthcare. The purpose of the strategy was to improve local health service delivery for Aboriginal Australians.

Conclusion

The current study highlights the complexities and challenges created by the intersection of (in broad terms) two cultures (Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultures). This dynamic is confounded by the oppressive history combined with racism that persists into contemporary circumstances, and the associated marginalisation. In addition to marginalisation, the desire for cultural distinctiveness and the influences of cultural perspectives further confounds and exacerbates the dynamics caused by other enablers and barriers, such as social connections and social support. In particular, the data suggests that distrust created by historical and contemporary racism may impede any health and broader assistance that might be gained from non-Indigenous sources