Running Head: AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES

Health and Diabetes among Indigenous People of Australia

[Name]

[Institution]
AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES 2

Health and Diabetes among Indigenous People of Australia

Introduction

The sociology of Health and illness inspects the connection between health and

society. It is different from the medical sociology which is limited only to the relationship

of patient and practitioner. What was historically been attributed to natural or biological

conditions, health related issues are studied in affiliation with social institutions such as

culture, family, education and employment in the sociology of health and illness. This

study requires greater understanding of societal factors that differs throughout the world

and a global approach is taken to examine the evolution of obvious differences in

patterns of health and illness across societies and within particular society types. This

essay intends to view the social patterns in health and illness among the aboriginal

people of Australia and discuss the importance of treatment in the context of community

perspectives.

Social Heath and Illness Patterns in Indigenous Population of Australia

The word aboriginal refers to the earliest known indigenous people, which in the

context of Australia have been found to be influenced largely by the colonization of

Europe (Humphrey, 2000). Experts believed that the indigenous people of Australia

came between 40,000 to 48,000 years ago who in appearance had dark hair and skin, a

broad nose and dominant cheekbones (Gillespie, 2002). After British invasion over

Australia, the indigenous people were evicted of their homes and many were executed

(Barta, 1987). It was only in the early years of twentieth century that protection
AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES 3

measures were taken to legally save aboriginal people of Australia. A recent study

estimated that only 3% of total Australian Population comprise of indigenous people

(AIH, 2014). Since industrialization and rapid urbanization, Australia’s health system

has evolved from being traditionally influenced by European colonization to being

culturally influenced by political ideologies of government authorities. When Australia

got independence, much of medicinal and health care resources were taken away,

leaving the newly independent government to face the inequality in health and illness

patterns within the country. The more prosperous urban areas who could afford food

suffered from obesity, cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes caused by over

nutrition, whereas the poor rural areas who could not afford basic nutrition suffered from

various diseases such as malaria and typhoid caused by malnutrition. The following

paragraphs will shed light on why is it important to examine lay understandings and

community perspectives of health and illness in the hypothetical treatment of Australian

Indigenous people.

In Australia, aboriginal people have higher rates of illnesses than any other

group. Diet, Diabetes, Cardiovascular diseases, Children’s Health, Sexually Transmitted

diseases, are some of the major concerns for indigenous Australian inhabitants. The

Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates that there 698,583 indigenous people in

Australia who are growing at the rate of 2.2 percent (ABS, 2012). Of all the States and

Territories, New South Wales has the highest number i.e. 216,612 while Tasmania has

the highest percentage of indigenous people i.e. 4.9 percent, followed by Queensland

with 4.3 percent, while Victoria has the lowest percentage, accounting for only 0.9

percent (AIH, 2014). Majority of the indigenous people comprised of youth aged less
AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES 4

than 15 years. In comparison with the aboriginal people in Australia, the Victorian Koori

population reports the highest rates of recent illness, chronic illness, alcohol

consumption, and cigarette smoking. The particular disease that this essay is focused

on is Diabetes, which is a chronic condition in which body is unable to properly process

Glucose (Diabetes Australia, 2011). The first ever recording of diabetes among

indigenous people in Australia was recorded in Adelaide in 1932. Traditionally, the diet

of the Pacific inhabitants were very low, but after the Second World War, a significant

rise in the intake of protein and fat have been observed, which has contribute markedly

to the increased prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes. Type 2 Diabetes has been termed as

the second leading cause of death amongst aboriginal communities in Australia,

responsible for one in twelve deaths of indigenous people in 2012 (ABS, 2014). The

aboriginal populations view Type 2 Diabetes differently and often refer to it as The

Sugar, the incidence of which reflects that their lives are out of balance that causes

further dilemmas and tensions. They mostly view that the disease is the consequence of

combination of environmental (cultural and historical), genetic (biological and hereditary)

and lifestyle factors (stress, blood pressure, obesity and poor diet). It was reported that

8 percent of the indigenous people have type 2 diabetes that is three times higher than

that for non-indigenous people, in which more women reported to have this disease

than men (ABS, 2013). According to a study by Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS,

2013), 5 percent of indigenous people aged between 25 and 34 years had diabetes and

up to 13 percent of those aged between 35 and 44 years had the disease, that further

increases up to 39 percent among people aged over 55 years, that is summarized in the

figure 1 below.
AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES 5

Figure 1: Percentage of People reporting Diabetes as a Chronic Health Condition, by Indigenous Status and
Age Group (2012-2013)

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics (2013)

Meaning of Health and Diabetes in an Urban Aboriginal Community of Australia

An ethnographic study (Thompson & Gifford, 2000) was conducted with in a state

of Victoria over a period of 22 months between 1994 and 1996. The purpose of this

study was to discover the components that has imposed challenges to public health

which backed by changes in rapid socio-cultural and environmental factors are

deteriorating health of the indigenous population. The study emphasized more on the

lifestyle factors as main cause of diabetes among the indigenous population. The

lifestyle theory assumes that individuals choose between the various ways of living, the

aggregate levels of which were measured by epidemiologists and that these choices

can be altered by individual interventions. Some of the lifestyle factors that are

particularly targeted as important in the prevention of diabetes are decreased physical

activity and increased consumption of fat. Traditionally, the diet of the Pacific inhabitants

were very low, but after the Second World War, a significant rise in the intake of protein

and fat have been observed, which has contribute markedly to the increased prevalence
AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES 6

of Type 2 Diabetes. The aborigines of Australia the source of diabetes is embedded in

the external factors outside the community that is passed down to the individual through

society, culture, and family connections fundamental to social and individual health. For

this reason, it is seen that the individual acquiring this disease have little or no control or

responsibility even if the individual is taking high fat diet or living an inactive live. They

view diabetes as a result of the disturbance and mutilation of the innate way of life,

since their first contact with Europeans. The epidemiology study has shown that the for

Melbourne Aborigines, food intake and physical activity are for the most part tangled in

a web of meaning related to family, community, culture, land and historical traditions,

and any changes in that style of living such as dieting or exercising would leave the

individual disconnected with the society leaving the individual in the state of vulnerability

and risk. In order to seek preventive measures and clinical treatments of diabetes,

understanding the interaction of individual and social systems of family, community and

society is vital. The model presented in the study demonstrated that societal factors

such as economic, political and culture largely shapes the individual choices regarding

the activities they participate in and the food they eat. The model talks about three

levels of connectedness, which fundamentally determines an individual’s vulnerability to

any kind of disease, not just the diabetes: Family, Community, and Society. Melbourne

Aborigines view lifestyle factors as operating at the societal level to cause disconnection

as worries, which are perceived to result from social, economic, and political situation

imposed by external environment outside the control of individual, family or community

that upsets the balance of connections of an individual to family, land and past

eventually leading to cause sugar. Therefore, indigenous women are less vulnerable to
AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES 7

diabetes than indigenous men because even if woman is taking a diet food, she is still

connected to the family and to the society symbolically because of preparing family food

and looking after children, whereas eating family food is essential for connectedness of

men especially for those men who are unemployed or too old to work.

Conclusion

In light of the literature above, it can be asserted that the problem of diabetes

among aboriginals of Australia is more of a problem caused by failure to take preventive

step from the perspective of those affected by this disease. Community-focused

interventions are more effective in reducing the prevalence and incidence of any

disease not just the diabetes. Since men are at more risk of being disconnected with the

community and family due to lack of employment opportunities and lack of access to

land, a gender specific epidemiological research is required in public health

interventions.
AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES 8

References

Australian Bureau of Statistics (2012) Australian demographic statistics, September

quarter 2011. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (2013) Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

health survey: first results, Australia, 2012-13. Canberra: Australian Bureau of

Statistics

Australian Bureau of Statistics (2014) Causes of death, Australia, 2012. Canberra:

Australian Bureau of Statistics

Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet (2014) Summary of Australian Indigenous health,

2013. Retrieved from http://www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/health-facts/summary

Barta, T. (1987). Relations of genocide: land and lives in the colonization of Australia.

Genocide and the modern age: Etiology and case studies of mass death, 237-51.

Retrieved from

http://surface.syr.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?filename=12&article=1023&context=bo

oks&type=additional

Diabetes Australia (2011) Understanding Diabetes. Retrieved from

http://www.diabetesaustralia.com.au/en/Understanding-Diabetes/

Gillespie, Richard (2002). "Dating the First Australians (full text)" (PDF). Radiocarbon 44

(2): 455–472. Retrieved from

https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/radiocarbon/article/download/4118/35

43
AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES 9

Humphery, K. (2000). Indigenous Health &" western Research". VicHealth Koori Health

Research & Community Development Unit, Centre for the Study of Health &

Society, University of Melbourne. Retrieved from

http://www.onemda.unimelb.edu.au/sites/default/files/docs/DP2.pdf

Thompson, S. J. & Gifford, S. M. (2000). Trying to keep a balance: the meaning of

health and diabetes in an urban Aboriginal community. Social Science and

Medicine, Vol. 51 (2000). Pp. 1457-1472.