Nobodies listening : an ecological approach to disease management may assist in reducing the rates of childhood ear infections in remote Aboriginal communities /

Date

2016

Authors

Teale, Christine Mary,

Editors

Advisors

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Type:

thesis

Citation

Statement of Responsibility

Conference Name

Abstract

Aboriginal peoples in Australia have high levels of chronic disease including diabetes, cardio vascular, kidney and respiratory disease; all contributing to a lower life expectancy than non-Aboriginal people. In remote communities co-morbidity is common with chronic illnesses accompanied by infectious disease more usually associated with developing countries; examples include scabies, trachoma, rheumatic fever and otitis media, the latter impacting in epidemic proportions in children. Many texts refer to the health and well- being of Aboriginal peoples at the time of colonisation, and the impact of diseases introduced by the coloniser. However, the forced removal of communities off their homelands into missions and reserves resulted in severe restriction of cultural expression, with access to bush foods, medicines and language denied in the majority of cases. Dependency developed, food provided by the missions or Aboriginal Protector was often payment for work done and limited to tea, flour, sugar and occasional meats. The disconnection from country, loss of culture, poor nutrition, associated grief and marginalisation of colonisation, is now evident in the epidemic of chronic disease.Aboriginal children have the highest global rate of Otitis Media (OM), with 90 percent of children in remote communities suffering some form of OM. This thesis is a scoping study, from an initial literature review of Aboriginal child health, which highlighted the inadequacy of biomedical research on infection rates, particularly Otitis Media (OM).

School/Discipline

David Unaipon College of Indigenous Education and Research.
David Unaipon College of Indigenous Education and Research.

Dissertation Note

Thesis (Masters by research(Aboriginal Studies))--University of South Australia, 2016.

Provenance

Copyright 2016 Christine Teale.

Description

english
1 ethesis (85 pages) :
illustrations
Includes bibliographical references (pages 64-78)

Access Status

506 0#$fstar $2Unrestricted online access

Rights

License

Grant ID

Published Version

Call number

Persistent link to this record