racism and the health of indigenous australians yin paradies
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Racism and the Health of Indigenous Australians Yin Paradies Onemda Koori Health Unit & McCaughey Centre University of Melbourne. What is racism? Racism is the inequitable distribution of opportunity, benefit or resources across ethnic/racial groups - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Racism and the Health of Indigenous Australians
Yin ParadiesOnemda Koori Health Unit & McCaughey
CentreUniversity of Melbourne
What is racism? Racism is the inequitable distribution of
opportunity, benefit or resources across ethnic/racial groups
Racism occurs through avoidable and unfair actions that : (i) further disadvantage minority ethnic/racial groups; or (ii) further advantage dominant ethnic/racial groups
Racism is expressed through attitudes, beliefs, behaviours, norms and practices and may be either intentional or unintentional
Internalised racism
Interpersonal racism
Systemic racism
Acceptance of attitudes, beliefs or ideologies about the inferiority of one’s own ethnic/racial group
Interactions between people that maintain and reproduce avoidable and unfair inequalities across ethnic/racial groups
Requirements, conditions, practices, policies or processes that maintain and reproduce avoidable and unfair inequalities across ethnic/racial groups
Believing that Indigenous people are naturally less intelligent than non-Indigenous people
Being racially abused when walking or driving in the street
Young Indigenous Victorians are 2-3 times more likely to be arrested and charged with an offence
Interpersonal Racism Against Indigenous
people
5000 respondents in the 2001 NSW/Qld Racism Survey and 4000 respondents in the 2006 Victorian Racism Survey were asked:
Would you be concerned if a close relative were to marry an Indigenous person?
28% in NSW/Qld and 25% in Vic expressed concern at such an occurrence
Systemic racism against Indigenous people
Although information on systemic racism is patchy at present, there is strong quantitative evidence of its existence in a number of settings including health, welfare, justice, housing and media
I will present brief findings from the health sector
The Health Sector Five studies have shown disparities in medical
care experienced by Indigenous patients
These studies found that Indigenous patients with the same characteristics as non-Indigenous patients were about a third less likely to receive appropriate medical care across all conditions (Cunningham 2002) as well as for lung cancer (Hall et al. 2004) and coronary procedures (Coory & Walsh 2005) in particular
Indigenous patients were only one-third as likely to receive kidney transplants (Cass et al. 2003)
Racism & ill-health Inequitable and reduced access to societal
resources required for health (e.g. employment, education, housing, medical care)
Inequitable exposure to risk factors associated with ill health (e.g. junk food, toxic substances, dangerous goods)
Stress and negative emotional/cognitive reactions which have negative impacts on mental health as well as affecting the immune, endocrine, cardiovascular and other physiological systems
Racism & ill-health Engagement in unhealthy activities
(e.g. smoking, alcohol and drug use)
Disengagement from healthy activities (e.g. sleep, exercise and taking medications)
Physical injury via racially motivated assault
Racism and Indigenous health
Racism has been associated with a range ofIndigenous health outcomes including:
poor general mental and physical health
stress, lack of control and psychological distress
anxiety, depression, suicide
increased alcohol, tobacco and drug use
Increasing empathyIncreasing empathy
Raising awarenessRaising awareness
Providing accurate information Providing accurate information
Recognising incompatible beliefs Recognising incompatible beliefs
Increasing personal accountabilityIncreasing personal accountability
Promoting positive social normsPromoting positive social norms
Breaking down barriers between groupsBreaking down barriers between groups
Themes for ActionThemes for Action
Actions to reduce discrimination Actions to reduce discrimination and support diversityand support diversity
AdvocacyAdvocacy
Community strengthening Community strengthening
Organisational development Organisational development
Legislative and policy reformLegislative and policy reform
Direct participation programs Direct participation programs
Communications and social marketingCommunications and social marketing
Research, monitoring and evaluationResearch, monitoring and evaluation
LEAD The LEAD Program is a multi-level,
multi-setting and multi-method intervention to reduce racism within the Victorian LGAs of Whittlesea and Shepparton from 2009-12
It is being funded and implemented through a consortium involving VicHealth, VEOHRC, CRCATSIH, beyondblue and DIaC
LEAD
LEAD aims to address racism against Asian, African, Middle Eastern, Muslim and Indigenous Australians in workplaces, retail and educational settings, sports/recreation, the media and local council
LEAD will include organisational development, diversity training, direct participation and social marketing strategies
LEAD will be evaluated using a pre-post with matched control design at the LGA level and within each setting
Questions