Bridging The Health Gap For Indigenous Australians: A Challenge For Australia

This study aims to seek out possible solutions to bridging the health gap for Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples by examining their current health status and analyzing contributing factors to the health disadvantages facing the Indigenous people.The thesis consists of 5 chapters with Chapter 1 as the introduction, Chapters 2 to 4 as the main body and Chapter 5 as the conclusion.The summaries of the 5 chapters are as follows:Chapter 1 is the introduction of the study in which the issue is introduced, and background information and research objectives are presented.Chapter 2 looks into the current health status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the health gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians by examining a number of key health indicators.Chapter 3 analyzes contributing factors to the appalling health discrepancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Causes are categorized into two broad groups:behavioral risk factors such as tobacco smoking and alcohol drinking, and socioeconomic factors such as employment and education.Chapter 4 deals with feasible strategies to close the health gap between the two populations. In line with the analysis of contributing factors in Chapter 3, the discussion of the strategies falls into two parts as well:the elimination of harmful health behaviors and the improvement in the socioeconomic status.The last chapter concludes the whole thesis, summarizing the health gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, causes of the health challenge facing Australia and feasible measures to narrow the gap and achieve health equity in the Australian society.