In 2007-2008, it was reported that 10.81% of residents 18 years and older in the Cloncurry Shire were suffering from high or very high psychological distress (ABS, 2011). Research shows that people living in rural and remote communities across Australia have particular high risk factors of mental health compared to their metropolitan counterparts (Rajkumar & Hoolahan, 2008). This is believed to be associated with isolation and environmental hazards such as drought, floods and fires (Rajkumar & Hoolahan, 2008). With the community experiencing monsoon weather patterns and droughts each year, the impact the weather has on the community results in financial stress on families which has been linked to anxiety, depression, family breakdown and other mental health issues (Rajkumar & Hoolahan, 2008). With recent economic uncertainty in remote Queensland communities due to both government and corporate service closures and restructuring of the farming industry, the Cloncurry Shire has had an 8% population decline over the past decade (Queensland Government, 2011c).
Port Phillip April 20, 1770 – First recorded European sighting of the Victorian coast. 1789 – This was the second year of settlement by the Europeans. Also, a Small Pox epidemic wiped out about half of the Aboriginal population around Sydney and spread north to the Hunter Valley. The epidemic also traveled from tribe to tribe down into possibly the whole of Victoria, except for the less accessible regions such as Gippsland and the Southern Alps. 1798 – George Bass explored the Western Port 1802 – Distrust between Europeans and Ab.
The impact of historical events such as incidents where indigenous Australians were forced into separate hospital wards so they were apart from the ‘white’ people, have had a detrimental effect on their willingness to access health care (NRHSN 2008). Today’s society still exerts a element of racism in health services, which in turn prevents indigenous from accessing health care, makes then feel “a sense of helplessness when if comes to dealing with health care issues” (NRHSN 2008). In 2008 it was found that 46% of rural indigenous Australians aged 15 and older did not speak English as their first language in the home environment, of these 15% reported difficulties in communicating in English and being understood by English speakers (ABS 2008). This is such a large percentage of the population that change needs to occur as it leaves them with the perception that they do not have control over their overall state of wellbeing (NRHSN
Welfare Is Killing Indigenous Australians As part of 'the gat' program (group of Australian organisations working together to achieve health and life expectation equality for Australia's Indigenous people) welfare was first introduced to Indigenous people in 1959. Since, it has only caused further problems to the livelihood of these traditional land societies particularly vulnerable to these funds. Little progress has been made in fixing the dire conditions on Indigenous lands, where approximately 75,000 Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders languish on welfare. This is where Indigenous dysfunction; literacy, poor health, alcohol and drug abuse, and violence is concentrated. Welfare essentially prevents indigenous people from seeking jobs
It will be the sickest people who pay the most, no matter what you do on a user-pays basis. However, Federal Health Minister Peter Dutton continues to reaffirm that as our population ages and Australians need to pay for new technologies and new life-saving drugs, which Australia has a system that will continue to grow and strengthen into the future. There are overall effects, both positive and negative, of the $7 co-payment on the Australian economy and society. Such negative effects on the economy include the fall in share prices for healthcare companies. In the first week since budget night, Primary Health Care share prices fell 6%.
More than 1 billion people worldwide lack access to safe drinking water (Lawrence & Weber, 2011, p. 43). Especially in the developing countries, with poor water management it contributes to increasing malnutrition and disease, a losing of biodiversity and agricultural production, rising food prices, reducing economic growth and social stability, that leading to conflicts over water resources. The major source for of the Coca-Cola Company’s (TCCC) products is water. Even the company’s CEO admits “that unless the communities where the company operated had access to water, they haven’t got a business” (Lawrence & Weber, 2011, p. 43). Coca-Cola and its bottlers using 80 billion gallons of water every year worldwide; in which two fifths goes into finished beverages.
This system will be able to better integrate and coordinate the primary health care in local communities. The Australian health system is under strain. As we have heard from the AGPN, Australia has a large amount of users in the Tertiary sector and a large percentage of these have resulted due to a lack of correct intervention and management. With a 3 tiered health system, made up of primary, secondary and tertiary levels it has been shown that consumers are experiencing disconnected and fragmented care, under not just one system but many. This lack of continuity has been shown to lead to poorer health outcomes, as a result of late intervention, focusing on illness rather than wellness and as well as being frustrating to patients and their care providers it increases costs.
To provide culturally appropriate care we need to know and to understand culturally influenced health behaviors. Since the perception of illness and disease and their causes varies by culture, these individual preferences affect our approaches to healthcare. Culture also influences how people
Sociology is playing an important role in the alarming health disparities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Although statistics are slowly improving, currently Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people endure much poorer health outcomes than non-Indigenous Australians. For the 2005–2007 period, life expectancy at birth was estimated to be 67 years for Indigenous males and 73 years for Indigenous females, representing gaps of 11.5 and 9.7 years, respectively, compared with all Australians. In 2008, almost one-third of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (aged 16–24 years) had high or very high levels of psychological distress. Indigenous young people died at a rate 2.5 times as high as that for non-Indigenous young people Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged 0–14 years died at more than twice the rate of non-Indigenous children.
This changed lifestyle impact their life and their health. As a result the indigenous Australians have some chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes which are common in aboriginal people however most indigenous Australians have high rates of renal disease and dental health problems.