Indeginous Health Issues Aus.

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             Howard, M (1994) said, during the colonization of Australia, that indigenous health took a downward. At this time, the health status of the indigenous changed for the worst. The health and well being of the people was devastating after the colonisation period. The policies implemented and the atrocities performed during colonization, impacted the indigenous so much that a return to typical life was absolutely impossible. A disruption in the lifestyle as well as the kinship structures, dispassion of the land, not to mention the introduction of disease, caused a breakdown in the structure of their typical way of life and cultural beliefs system for the indigenous people of Australia (Wright, B. 1999). Specific government policies were drawn up which involved a surrender of rights of the indigenous people to the European invaders. These were:.
             *Dispossession 1788-1880s - this involved the hand over of land to the white for settlement.
             *Segregation 1890s-1950s.
             *Assimilation 1930s-1970s - this became an act by the government to remove indigenous people from their native way of life and into a non-indigenous society. This involved the kidnapping of many indigenous children, especially those considered "half-caste", and placing them in the white families (Nelson et al, 1999).
             As a result of the set policies, the indigenous people became utterly demoralized. Demoralisation meant a decline in the health and well being of indigenous as well as deaths from exposure to newly introduced diseases brought in by the Europeans. Dispossession saw the indigenous people, forced into smaller, cramped areas of Australia, vastly different from pre-colonisation. Survival was challenged by the high risks of malnutrition and an endemic disease manifest (Healey, K. 1998).There was no medical treatment provided for the indigenous. This had been denied as a basic right for the indigenous Australians. As a result, from the change of living conditions and environment, this obviously brought into diseases such as to wipe out an entire group as well as greatly affect others.