Discrimination in health care
I have chosen I’m not the Indian you had in mind by Thomas King. The video addresses myths and misperceptions of indigenous people perpetuated through film, social media, and societal discrimination.
Browne, A. J., Varcoe, C., Lavoie, J., Smye, V., Wong, S. T., Krause, M., … & Fridkin, A. (2016). Enhancing health care equity with Indigenous populations: evidence-based strategies from an ethnographic study. BMC Health Services Research, 16(1), 544.
The article discusses an evidence-based framework and specific strategies employed in promoting health care equity for the indigenous populations. Indigenous people have experienced discrimination in healthcare, where their respective governments are doing very little to address the issue. Colonialism on indigenous communities in Canada, the United States, and Australia has left profound health effects with health services failing to address the health and social inequities as routine healthcare delivery aspects. The article mentions that structural violence is responsible for shaping indigenous people’s general health globally, and it is connected to history, individual, and institutional racism.
The paper uses ethnographic design and mixed methods in its study, where it is conducted at two urban Aboriginal Health Centers located in two inner cities in Canada. The article’s authors use a sample size of 114 patients and over 900 h of participant observation to collect the much-needed data for the article.
The article’s authors found that key dimensions of equity-oriented health services include inequity-responsive care, culturally safe care, trauma, and violence-informed care, and contextually tailored care. The authors of the article also found that partnerships with indigenous leaders, agencies, and communities must operationalize and tailor the key dimensions. The article also concludes that equity-oriented care’s key dimensions serve as health equity guidelines for organizations and individuals working in various settings of primary care practices.
The video addresses the myths and misperceptions of indigenous people perpetuated through film, social media, and societal discrimination. The authors of the article address the various challenges met by these indigenous people in the health care setting where the providers fail to consider the cultural context of the people from this community.
Bethune, R., Absher, N., Obiagwu, M., Qarmout, T., Steeves, M., Yaghoubi, M., … & Farag, M. (2019). Social determinants of self-reported health for Canada’s indigenous peoples: a public health approach. Public Health, 176, 172-180.
The article addresses the various health disparities that indigenous people suffer in Canada. The study aims to examine the social determinants of self-reported health for indigenous people in Canada. We understand the detrimental effect of stereotyping indigenous people and acting in disregard of their culture, which has devastated them. Indigenous communities in Canada, whose majority is of Indian descent, have lived in poor conditions economically and in the health care setting.
The study designs include using data from Statistics Canada’s Aboriginal Peoples survey 2012. The author of the study employs multinomial logistic regression models to examine how selected social determinants of health are usually associated with self-reported health among off-reserve First Nations and Metis people in Canada.
The study found that older people, females, and those living in urban areas were highly associated with negative self-reported health status ratings among the indigenous respondents. People with considerate higher income and education were significantly associated with a positive rating of self-reported health status. The study’s authors further found that indigenous people with better income and education were having a positive and good rating of self-reported health status. The article concluded that income and education were the protective factors while the location of residence, gender, and age were the risk determinants.
The article is related to the video as it addresses how stereotypes and discrimination in the economic and health sector have affected indigenous communities in Canada. The authors of the article mention the risk determinants and protective factors in the health status of the aboriginals in Canada. Indigenous communities are associated with low education levels, and this societal discrimination has resulted in the various health disparities in the community.
Richmond, C. A., & Cook, C. (2016). Creating conditions for Canadian aboriginal health equity: the promise of healthy public policy. Public Health Reviews, 37(1), 2.
The article highlights the various need for healthy public policy that will equally recognize and prioritize the rights of Canada’s Aboriginals to achieve health equity. The authors examine the historical scope and compressive breadth of the Indian Act in shaping modern Aboriginal health and social inequities by drawing from a structural approach. Canada lacks a compressive policy that seeks to bridge the gap between the aboriginals and the other Canadians regarding health care and income equality. Income inequality in indigenous communities has resulted in varying health disparities in the country, especially in indigenous communities and regions.
The authors of the study used the historical scope and Indian act to highlight various conditions required to create health inequities for Canada’s Aboriginals. The authors use the health public policy that was first introduced in the Ottawa charter to outline guidelines for achieving and bridging the gap in Canada’s health care sector.
The study found that there is a significant disparity when examining infant mortality between Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals. The study also found that Indigenous communities recorded a low life expectancy of 64 years compared with the First Nation of 73-74 years in men. The authors mention that injury and poisoning, cancer, circulatory diseases, and respiratory diseases are the leading causes of mortality among the aboriginals. The authors of the paper conclude that there is a need to critically evaluate the issues experienced by indigenous communities and formulate a policy to address health disparities.
The article addresses the societal discrimination in health care in regions where Indigenous communities reside. The article is related to the video, and therefore there is a need to see the Aboriginals as equal to the others. Disparities in the health care system are a serious issue that should be addressed with important policies to end ethnic stereotyping that lead to marginalization
References
Bethune, R., Absher, N., Obiagwu, M., Qarmout, T., Steeves, M., Yaghoubi, M., … & Farag, M. (2019). Social determinants of self-reported health for Canada’s indigenous peoples: a public health approach. Public Health, 176, 172-180. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2018.03.007
Browne, A. J., Varcoe, C., Lavoie, J., Smye, V., Wong, S. T., Krause, M., … & Fridkin, A. (2016). Enhancing health care equity with Indigenous populations: evidence-based strategies from an ethnographic study. BMC Health Services Research, 16(1), 544. Doi: 10.1186/s12913-016-1707-9
Richmond, C. A., & Cook, C. (2016). Creating conditions for Canadian aboriginal health equity: the promise of healthy public policy. Public Health Reviews, 37(1), 2.