Life Expectancy Australia

Question: Discuss about theLife Expectancy Australia. Answer: Introduction The thesis statement of the essay is that the initiative taken by the government to close the life expectancy gap between the indigenous and non-indigenous Australia is not in a proper direction and the main reason for this is poor condition of the indigenous people. The mortality rate of children in indigenous Australia as compared to that of the non-indigenous Australia was almost double between the years 2010-2014. As compared to 0.37% mortality rate in Non-indigenous Australia, The mortality rate among children was 0.62% in indigenous Australia. The Australia government has taken an initiative to close the gap between the life expectancy rate between indigenous and non-indigenous Australia by the year 2031 along with other targets, in 2008 through the National Indigenous Reform Agreement. The economic policies adopted by the government are not potent enough to close the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australia (Alford and Muir 2004). The essay discusses the reasons why the government is not able to achieve its target with respect to closing the gap between the life expectancy between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. The reasons such as poverty, unemployment and the lack of proper health infrastructure in indigenous Australia along with recommendations to address them are discussed in the essay. There are many reasons due to which the Australian government is not able to achieve its planned targets towards closing this gap. According to a report from Australian institute of health care and management there is a positive development in the statistics of the life expectancy of indigenous Australia but it is still below that of the non-indigenous Australian citizens. According to the prime minister, the target of closing the gap between life expectancy of urban and rural Australia is not on track (Donato and Segal 2013). Males of urban Australia have a life expectancy of 10 years more compared to the males of rural Australia. There have been substantial improvements on this issue but they are not enough to achieve its goal by the year 2031 (Guthrie and Walter, 2013). Economic problems of indigenous Australia directly result in the health of the rural citizens. Unemployment is one of the major problems, which is creating economical issues for the people of indigenous Australia (Altman 2007). The employment rate in non-indigenous Australia is only 9% as compared to 23 % in indigenous Australia, the gap is even wider in reality. The comparison between skilled and unskilled employment of citizens between indigenous and non-indigenous Australia is also wide. Indigenous Australia has a skilled employment percentage of 9% as compared to 26% of non-indigenous Australia. This ratio automatically results in a lowers income for the indigenous people as compared to that of the non-indigenous citizens (Richardson and Denniss 2014). This situation of low-income causes a below standard lifestyle which results in heath issues and eventually a lower life expectancy rate for the indigenous people. The lack of modern infrastructure is also one of the major problems causing the low rate of life expectancy in the indigenous people. The rate of introduction of modern technology in the field of medical science is also vey less in indigenous Australia as compared to that of the urban regions. The lack of proper treatment of disease like cancer due to the absence of technology is one of the major causes of a low life expectancy rate in indigenous Australia (Baade et al. 2015). Income inequalities between the people of indigenous and non-indigenous Australia, which is the root of lower life expectancy, results out of the powerlessness of the indigenous people. Little or no political power vested in the indigenous people give rise to social as well as economical inequalities. The indigenous people are not able to address their economic problems and rectify them due to powerlessness (Biddle 2011). The area of cardiovascular disease is also causing problems to the government in closing the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous disease. Cardiovascular diseases are causing more death in the indigenous people as compared to the non-indigenous citizens. This is eventually resulting in a lower life expectancy rate for the indigenous people. The government is using a slow and study approach on solving this issue as this is a huge task. As a result, there are only small changes in the statistics of the life expectancy of the indigenous people. The rate at which this program is progressing it would not be able to achieve its target within the year 2031. The reduction in the number of patients affected with chronic disease has decreased but there is still no significant development in the field of life threatening diseases like cancer within the indigenous community. The government is introducing more investment in the health management structure of indigenous Australia as a strategy to close the gap between the indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. This investment is being done to develop the health management structure of indigenous Australia so that it is able to address the needs of the people. This policy has to be implemented by the government in a very systematic and planned way or else it will not provide the expected results. The investment should also be made to improve the dietary intake of the indigenous people in Australia. Diet plays a very important role in relation to the health of an individual and eventually affects the life expectancy rate. The diet of the indigenous people compared to that of the non-indigenous people is poor and is one of the major causes of diseases. As a student, I would like to recommend a planned dietary development program for the people of indigenous Australia, which would help in the betterment of their health. Reducing unemployment by investing in the indigenous market of Australia is also one of the strategies of the government to increase the average income of the indigenous people. If the income of the indigenous people increases that, they will have a better standard of living and eventually have a healthy lifestyle (Kawachi and Subramanian 2014). The investments by the Australian government are not proving to be enough to meet their target. The unemployment rate of the people is decreasing gradually but it is not causing a substantial growth in their income. Thus, the target of losing the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australia with respect to life expectancy by 2031 is not running on track (Jamieson et al. 2012). As a student, I recommend that the government should adopt a hybrid economy model to address the economic issues of the indigenous regions taking into account the state, customary and market. I also recommend investments in the sector of education and skill devel opment, which would lay a foundation to solve the economic inequalities between the indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. As a result, they will be able to achieve a better standard of living and eventually a higher life expectancy rate. The corporation of all the states and the commonwealth along with organizations can only achieve this target. The government needs to address this issue with primary importance in order to solve the problem; a secondary approach will not help in the achievement of the target. In order to achieve the target set by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) in the stipulated period, solving the problem of income inequalities is the most important concern. This can be achieved by primarily addressing the social evils like unemployment and lack of proper education. The market strategies also need to be changed in order to ensure a steady market in indigenous Australia (Kowal 2015). References: Alford, K. and Muir, J., 2004. Dealing with unfinished Indigenous business: the need for historical reflection.Australian Journal of Public Administration,63(4), pp.101-107. Altman, J.C., 2007.Alleviating poverty in remote Indigenous Australia: The role of the hybrid economy. Australian National University, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research. Baade, P.D., Youlden, D.R., Andersson, T.M., Youl, P.H., Kimlin, M.G., Aitken, J.F. and Biggar, R.J., 2015. Estimating the change in life expectancy after a diagnosis of cancer among the Australian population.BMJ open,5(4), p.e006740. Biddle, N., 2011. Definitions of wellbeing and their applicability to Indigenous policy in Australia. Donato, R. and Segal, L., 2013. Does Australia have the appropriate health reform agenda to close the gap in Indigenous health?.Australian Health Review,37(2), pp.232-238. Guthrie, J. and Walter, M., 2013. The Positioning of Indigenous Australians as Health Care Recipients.When Culture Impacts Health: Global Lessons for Effective Health Research, p.239. Jamieson, L.M., Paradies, Y.C., Eades, S., Chong, A., Maple-Brown, L., Morris, P., Bailie, R., Cass, A., Roberts-Thomson, K. and Brown, A., 2012. Ten principles relevant to health research among Indigenous Australian populations.Medical Journal of Australia,197(1), p.16. Kawachi, I. and Subramanian, S.V., 2014. Income inequality.Social epidemiology, pp.126-152. Kowal, E., 2015.Trapped in the gap: Doing good in indigenous Australia. Berghahn Books. Richardson, D. and Denniss, R., 2014. Income and wealth inequality in Australia.