Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Care, three topics that are interconnected with each other and are
realised (Belcher 2014). As I still live with my parents and come under
their health cover, I have never tried to understand the thought that goes
into organising it. I now see that not only personal factors contributing to
but also the health care system and the government all affect how health
The choice between private and public health care primarily comes down
mother and my father as my two brothers have their own health care
plans. In this sense, my mother and father decided that opting for the
public health care system but paying for extras cover (optical, all dental,
are all in good health. This is a feature that I did not know about and that
we did not discuss in the workshop which I believe is great for the
what they want rather than leaving them with either one option or the
debate, I had to argue for private health care, and in a sense, it seemed
people to pay more money for private health care when Australias public
health care system is so effective already. The only ways in which I saw
private health care to be above public, is for elderly people who make
knowledge was the input from health professionals and information about
first glance, it seems obvious that health care professionals and facilities
would be affected, but the scope in which they are influenced by the
2014). The influence that they had at this time was strengthened in 1946,
where changes to the constitution enabled them with more control over
where politics and political movements such as equal rights have the
power to challenge the way that health care is modified, where the
Australian Labour party takes lead and aimed to maintain a universal, free
health care system (Belcher 2014). If you look at Americas health care
system, they only provide public health cover to people who have retired,
government does this for several reasons, primarily because the United
This makes good health care unattainable for many, especially those of
reverts to the topic of well-being and wellness and global public health.
influences that ultimately determine the choice people make with regards
to health care (Heil 2014). In Australia, we are lucky enough to have public
not exist for the unemployed and personal cover is only available through
individuals mental health, I could only imagine how much more helpless
those in this position must feel to have even less assistance from the
In a system where the lower your socio-economic position is, the harder it
are less likely to require medical assistance due to the difference in nature
off along with factors such as living conditions, nutrition and sanitation
such as India, that has poor health insurance where the population still
pays for a majority of their health care costs (Bhatia 2017). Furthermore,
Australias health care system with minimum level private health care
events that they face, as I saw in the Four Corners report on fashion
I see the topic of power, politics and health care to be one that is not
easily understood and a definitive answer will most likely never be found
(Germov 2014). With much concern, I have accepted the fact that
applying this strategy to health care is very challenging due to the broad
the historical and cultural areas are unique to the country of observation
aspects of health care we would need to first recognise the work of the
Indigenous people of Australia and then move into the countries of origin
of the masses who came to our country. Even now, our health system is
Australia, creating constant change where the events of the past are still
Television.
Department for Professional Employees. (2017.) The U.S. Health Care
Jennifer Dorning
http://international.commonwealthfund.org/countries/india/
Reflective Journal Submission 2
Nicholas Horton, 2150171
05 May 2017.
I find that the difficulty of addressing Indigenous health, is the fact that it
can be a very personal issue for both white and Indigenous Australians as
the area of health cannot be addressed on its own, and those who may be
unknowledgeable about the broader historical context, just as I was, take
offence or quickly reach conclusions, rather than trying to understand
alternative views and opinions.
Historically, the colonization of Australia was, what I feel to be, the biggest
impact on the mental and physical health of Indigenous Australians (Gray
et al., 2014). The Indigenous people of Australia had developed a home in
which they had complex religious, spiritual, linguistic and navigation
systems and better health conditions than any of the years after European
settlement, even better than that of Britain (Gray et al., 2014). With
colonization came the oppression and dispossession of the Indigenous
population, around 750,000 at the time, leaving them vulnerable to social
problems such as racism and racial violence, economic disadvantage and
drug addiction (Gray et al., 2014). These social factors created poor levels
of mental and physical health amongst Indigenous Australians that have
been present throughout generations to this day (Gray et al., 2014). This
division in social classification was made clear in the movie Beneath
Clouds, where Indigenous boy, Vaughn, was alienated by the white-
Australian population in an abusive and racial manner, where he was
labelled with a bad persona for no other reasons besides being
Indigenous, generating anger and an obvious mental and emotional stress
and fear of life within him (Hall & Sen, 2002).
Studies show that there is a strong correlation between socio-economic
grade and causes of death in individuals, meaning that the dispossession
and oppression in which the Indigenous people suffered and continue to
suffer is having a severe negative effect on their mental and physical
health and well-being (Heil, 2014). Alcohol is a major contributor within
the Indigenous population for the amplitudes of Indigenous
hospitalisations (Gray et al., 2014). Unfortunately, it too stems from
colonisation, where it was used by European settlers to bribe Australias
natives, a luxury used then used by the Indigenous people to excess to
cope with their traumatic experiences (Gray et al., 2014). It became an
uncontrollable addiction for many Indigenous Australians which has been
passed to younger generations (Gray et al., 2014). A staggering figure of
hospitalisation resembles this, where hospitalisation for chronic kidney
disease was 15 times more than in non-Indigenous people (Gray et al.,
2014).
When studying results such as this, there is one thing that stands out in
my mind and that is the fact that the numbers that we read are not
merely statistics, rather they are real people and part of a population,
one that is native to my country. This means that those individuals who
are hospitalised for kidney disease or another problem such as mounting
drug-related violence are also part of a family. Based on the socio-
economic position of Indigenous people, a family that is not of high social
status, so how are they supposed to turn away from the very behaviour in
which they see and experience all the time and break the inequality of
living as an Indigenous person in Australia?
References
References