The Heart Of The Matter

The Heart Of The Matter

By Paul McCann

Lets have a yarn about cardiovascular disease with Aboriginal people .
Evidence has shown that one of the biggest health problems in the Indigenous community is cardiovascular disease with a mortality rate of 26% in the aboriginal population . Some of the risk factors include smoking , substance abuse , alcohol consumption , physical inactivity , proper nutrition and clean food sources . These everyday living conditions are an acceptable way of life that create social and emotional well being issues that contribute to heart disease .
Evidence from Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows that one-in-eight (13%) Indigenous people were reported to have some form of CVD . Furthermore 26% of the mortality rate in Indigenous people are due to Cardiovascular disease . In addition in the death rates for all coronary heart disease (the leading cause of CVD-related deaths) were 7 to 13 times higher for Indigenous people in than the rates for their non-Indigenous counterparts . There are many factors that this is occurring such as smoking , alcohol consumption , physical inactivity ,obesity , improper nutrition and unclean food sources , substandard living conditions and social and emotional well being .
There are some barriers that prevent improvements to this issue , one of them is having inadequate resources . The Australian Government are trying to build pathways into better health care in the remote areas around Australia to address the needs of people in those communities. Services such as indigenous nursing and community health clinics are just a few resources out there that consider the challenges that people are faced with everyday .
To deliver this kind of service is difficult due to those who linguistically challenged or marginalised in their community because of tribal and belief systems that exist .
It is difficult for those kind of people to understand how to access a primary care system . One idea the Australian Government came up with was to create a place to have a yarn with Indigenous people so that development of better health care can address some of the the risks factors that relate to cardiovascular disease which is the biggest health problem in the Indigenous community . With a mortality rate of 26% unless implementation of policies for prevention of the disease are put in place this mortality rate will increase .
We need to come up with ideas to identify and manage this growing problem with cardiovascular disease .
I dentify the magnitude of the problem in Aboriginal Australia
D evelop health care strategies to prevent cardiovascular disease
E nsure services are appropriate for the indigenous Australians .
A ddress risk factors that contribute to cardiovascular disease.
S upport of health care programs for people with the problem .

Causes of cardio-vascular disease .
At common cause of cardio-vascular disease can be through smoking .
Social justice reports within the Australian human rights commission identifies significant health disparities due to socio-cultural factors . One of the key points made stated Indigenous people do not have an equal opportunity to be as healthy as the rest of Australia’s population . In addition to that the report notes , that the relative socio-economic disadvantage experienced by indigenous people places them at greater risk to environmental risk factors . Further it points out that there are conditions that do not support good health such as , safe drinking water , rubbish collection services and healthy housing . The report mentions that poverty and chronic diseases are associated to smoking and high risk behaviours in lower socio-economic communities . The report points out that one in six aboriginals stated they consumed alcohol at risky or high levels and more than half had not participated in physical recreation activities . Other stressors such as racism was reported to affect physical health .

Tobacco Control - The National Tobacco Strategy is a policy framework for the Australian Government and state and territory governments to work together and in collaboration with non-government agencies to improve health and to reduce the social costs caused by tobacco. Health warnings on packets of cigarettes send out messages to the danger of taking up a smoking habit as well as pointing out the impact smoking has upon health . Taxation and education play a role in making the habit harder to take up .
There is a need to communicate inroads access the framework of health care services around the remote areas in Australia where health care can be provided .
Another strategy that could be implemented is addressing an awareness of other factors in the community that are a barrier to accessing primary health care such as providing or assisting transport to and from where the client lives and the medical centre to access primary health care . This alone would ease everyday hardships indigenous communities have to face in their community to get the treatment they require . The provision of an aboriginal health team who can provide information about the services that are available for them, such as respite care homes allowing some time out for those who are caring for family members who are unwell .
Services such as provision of a community service provider to carry out domestic help such as cleaning around the home as well as a the provision of a support worker to maintain hygiene, or to cook meals . Other strategies may include health care professional such as an occupation therapist to visit the home to assess any improvements that could be made around the home , a dietitian could be made available to address poor nutrition and over weight issues.
Its always good to sit down and have a yarn about issues instead of just thinking they will go away .

The End