Health of Aboriginal Women in Canada

INTRODUCTION

The circumstances in which people are born, grow, live, work and age are responsible for most of the health inequities that have persisted and widened within and between countries. These circumstances are commonly referred to as determinants of health. While a number of agencies and organizations have identified different determinants as contributing to ill health and inequities, they typically include: early child development, education, income, employment and the nature of employment, social and physical environments, personal health practices and coping skills, access to health services, racism, and gender.

Aboriginal women’s health

The wellbeing and prosperity of Aboriginal women is influenced by a complex scope of way of life and environmental factors. All Holistic methodologies, including most profound sense of being, associations with family, group and nation, and the sharing of Indigenous women' learning, aptitudes and links plays an essential part in addressing the health burdens experienced by numerous Indigenous women. Aboriginal people have endured great inter-generational trauma as a result of colonization, forced expulsion of children, digestion, isolation and racism. Social practices, customs and characters have been interfered with which has devastatingly affected the health of Aboriginal peoples. Aboriginal people also encounter significant socio-economic disadvantage, which is strongly identified with poor health results.

In Canada, Aboriginal children keep on representing an alarmingly high rate of the kids in government care (Farris-Manning and Zandstra 2003, Trocm’e et al. 2004, Browne et al. 2009a). Insights from 2000–2002 evaluated that 76,000 Canadian children were living in government care (Trocm’e et al. 2004); 30–40% were of Aboriginal ethnicity (Farris-Manning and Zandstra 2003). In British Columbia, Aboriginal children involve 54% of children in government care, in spite of representing approximately 8% of kids in the area (British Columbia Provincial Health Officer 2009). The life expectancy for Aboriginal women is 73.7 compared to 83.1 for non-Aboriginal women. Aboriginal women are more likely to have one or more chronic health conditions compared to Aboriginal men.6 and are 34 times more likely to be hospitalized due to family violence. Though they make up 0.9% of the Victorian population, Aboriginal women are the fastest growing segment of the Victorian prison population, representing 8.9% of Victorian female prisoners. Most Aboriginal women in prison have experienced family violence and many are incarcerated for offences relating to homelessness and financial hardship. There is a need for more Aboriginal women-focused research as much of the research on Aboriginal health is gender blind and does not explore the impact of gender on the health and well-being outcomes of Aboriginal women in addition to the trauma of colonization, forced removal, racism and socio-economic disadvantage. Aboriginal women experience poorer health than other women. Numerous Indigenous women endure medical issues because of context of their lives, with huge effects being identified with dispossession, forced expulsions from family, racism, marginalization and exposure to violence.

Aboriginal women share a significant number of an indistinguishable difficulties and concerns from other women in Canada. Be that as it may, demographically, socially and financially, Aboriginal women are also a remarkable populace. There is also much assorted qualities inside the Aboriginal populace. Comprehensively, Aboriginal people can be considered as three particular groups: First Nations (North American Indian), Métis and Inuit. Inside each of these groups are numerous unmistakable social gatherings. Women have many duties as moms, grandmas, sisters, daughters, spouses and partners, and most generally it is the women in families who have the fundamental obligation regarding taking care of the health of other family members. There is the potential for significant health gains for Indigenous women through enhanced aversion, early detection and treatment to address the more elevated amounts of risk components and the burden of illness with prior onset and lower survival rates. To guarantee better health results, procedures need to include knowledge and familiarity with the history, experience, culture and privileges of Indigenous women.

Context of Aboriginal Women health

The health drawbacks experienced by Indigenous people can be considered in origin, yet perpetuation of the disadvantages owes much to contemporary basic and social factors, embodied in what have been named the 'social determinants' of health. In expansive terms, economic opportunities, physical framework, and social conditions impact the health of people, groups, and societies in general. These elements are particularly manifest in measures, for example, education, work, salary, housing, access to services, interpersonal organizations, association with land, racism, and detainment. On every one of these measures, Indigenous people endure considerable disadvantage. The traditional Indigenous perspective of health is holistic. It encompasses everything important in a person’s life, including land, environment, physical body, community, relationships, and law. Health is the social, emotional, and cultural wellbeing of the whole community and the concept is therefore linked to the sense of being Indigenous. These two approaches need to be combined in a culturally sensitive manner to deal adequately with Indigenous female health issues in both the immediate and long term.

The Attack on Aboriginal Culture

Women were never considered inferior in Aboriginal society until Europeans arrived. Women had few rights in European culture at the time of first contact with Aboriginal people. Men were viewed as their social, legitimate and political masters. Any rights which women had were those inferred through their spouses. The law of England, for instance, held that women did not have the privilege to vote, to possess property or to enter into contracts. This disposition was eventually reflected in the Indian Act, which conspicuously oppressed women. This attitude toward women proceeded until generally as of late in Canada. Women needed to battle fights in this century to win the privilege to vote and to be perceived as lawful people, and it was just inside the previous couple of decades that the last legitimate confinements upon their entitlement to contract and claim property were lifted. The imposition of new values and cultural standards brought about tremendous historical, social and economic changes which, for the most part, were destructive to Aboriginal communities. Dr. Sally Long staff of the Child Protection Centre has written:

The razing of Indian societies and their traditions is well-documented. Symptoms of this dislocation are evident in high rates of unemployment, suicide, alcoholism, domestic violence, and other social problems. This loss of tradition has seriously damaged the oral means of preserving cultural norms, and the values which prohibit deviant behaviors have been obscured and often forgotten. Native peoples often appear reluctant to adopt “white” solutions to problems that stem from the latter’s apparent destruction of their societies.

 These progressions to Aboriginal way of life mutilated the traditional Aboriginal male and female roles. With the loss of Indian male roles and thus of being diminished to a condition of powerlessness and vulnerability which their own particular culture considered exceptionally inappropriate. Indian men came to encounter serious role strain. Social changes resulting from the economic factors at play had their most prominent effect on the part of Aboriginal women.

The health and wellbeing of Aboriginal women

The health and wellbeing of Aboriginal women is influenced by a complex scope of financial and natural factors. Indigenous women are more likely than non-Indigenous women to be unemployed, to have profession obligations regarding kids other than their own, to get welfare payments and to have finished school at a earlier age (Aboriginal Social Justice Commissioner, 2004). Indigenous women are additionally more inclined to be a casualty of violence and to live in communities where brutality is predominant. All things considered, four in ten Indigenous women reported their health as magnificent or great in 2004-05. Holistic health approaches, including those that encompasses spirituality and associations with family, community and country, and the sharing of Indigenous women knowledge, aptitudes and networks have been recognized as essential parts in addressing to the health disadvantages experienced by numerous Indigenous women (Thomson, 2006)

Data Sources

Information for this study is drawn from a range of ABS data sources including the 2004-05 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (NATSIHS), the 2004-05 National Health Survey (NHS), the 2002 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey (NATSISS) and the 2002 General Social Survey (GSS).

Healing

In the political arena, Aboriginal women may be underrepresented, but many are leading the way in the area of healing the wounds of colonization. In small, informal circles and large healing conferences attended by thousands, women are grappling with the issues of residential schools, missing and murdered women, abuse and violence, and drug, alcohol and other addictions

Health Status

• In 2004-05, 39% of Aboriginal women aged 18 years and over reported their health as excellent or very good and 26% reported their health as fair or poor. This compared with 41% and 21% respectively for Indigenous men.
• Women who reported their health as excellent or very good health were more likely than those who reported fair/poor health to be employed (52% compared with 33%), to have completed school to Year 12 (30% compared with 17%) and to have access to higher household incomes (31% compared with 17%).
• Rates of fair/poor health increased steadily with age, ranging from 15% of Indigenous women aged 18-24 years to 46% of women aged 55 years and over.
• After adjusting for the differences in age structure between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations, Indigenous women were twice as likely as non-Indigenous women to report fair/poor health.

Social and Emotional Wellbeing

• In 2004-05, 70% of Indigenous women aged 18 years and over reported feeling happy and around half (51%) reported feeling full of life all/most of the time in the four weeks prior to interview.
• Women who reported feeling happy all/most of the time were more likely than those who reported feeling happy a little/none of the time to be employed (47% compared with 35%), to report excellent/very good health (45% compared with 20%) and to have access to higher household incomes (27% compared with 16%).
• Two-thirds (66%) of Indigenous women reported low/moderate levels of psychological distress and 32% reported high/very high levels of psychological distress in the four weeks prior to interview.
• Indigenous women were more likely than Indigenous men to report high/very high levels of psychological distress (32% compared with 21%). Rates were similar for women living in both non-remote and remote areas (32% compared with 33%).
• Indigenous women with a long-term health condition were more likely to report high/very high levels of psychological distress than women with no long-term health condition (34% compared with 21%).
• High/very high levels of psychological distress were particularly common among women with cancer (54%), back pain/problems (45%), kidney disease (44%) and arthritis (44%).
• Women with high/very high levels of psychological distress were more likely than women with low/moderate levels of distress to have consulted a doctor (35% compared with 25%) or other health professional (30% compared with 22%) in the two weeks prior to interview.
• After adjusting for age differences between the two populations, Indigenous women were twice as likely as non-Indigenous women to report high/very high levels of psychological distress.

CONCLUSION

Community members, pioneers, and health care workers should all be included in efforts to expand the adequacy of cervical screening programs among Aboriginal women. Midwives are ideally situated inside numerous communities to give sensitive regenerative medicinal services. Midwives need to instruct themselves concerning the most ideal care, including a appreciations for the historical background advising the present day financial conditions. This requires Midwives perceive and react to key ranges of morbidity, free from generalizations. The support and genuine participation of Aboriginal people communities ought to be looked for and instructive effort should be taken to enhance the uptake of services. Thought should be given to the caring environment and additionally the structure of care with a specific end goal to energize continued access. There are numerous chances to consolidate traditional Native communication and healing strategies in a reproductive midwifery health service that is genuinely responsive and sensitive to the requirements of Aboriginal women, their families and communities.

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