Link Between Discrimination and Oral Health Among Indigenous and Minority Communities Around the World

Generally, the affluent have longer life expectancies relative to those from poor backgrounds. Much as this is a form of social injustice, it has also helped scientists in shedding light on some of the most influential determinants of health standards in our societies. There has been a growing understanding of the linkage between health and the social environment; which has been popularly come to be known as social determinants of health. A growing body of evidence has shown that there is a strong link between discrimination and chronic stress and what the implication of this on general health. This further strengthens the existing notion that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (ATSI) are more generally susceptible to chronic illnesses compared to their non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populace. Research has also shown that there is a strong influence between racism and chronic stress and suffering experienced by the minorities ("Dental Health Foundation", 2016). This essay seeks to show that the Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders are relatively disadvantaged and carry significantly more health problems compared to their non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander counterparts.

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There is a limited body of research available to explore the link between discrimination and oral health among indigenous and minority communities around the world. The experience of discrimination by the Aboriginal Australians has predisposed them to anxiety, suicidal tendencies and a generally poor state of mental health. A comparison of oral health between Aboriginal youth and their non-Aboriginal Australian youth show that a wide gap exists between the oral health states of the two factions, the Aboriginals having poorer oral health states compared to the non-Aboriginal Australian youths ("Evaluating Health Promotion", 2016).

Racism and health outcomes

According to ABC News (2015) evidence suggests that racism and discrimination are linked to various serious health conditions among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Racism refers to hate towards a person of a different color. Discrimination refers to self-reported places or situations in which the individual received unfair treatment because of being Indigenous. Racism affects the health of ATSI through racially inflicted physical assaults, stress and negative emotional factors that are detrimental to the psychological well being and unfair and inequitable distribution of resources for improving health such as educationand housing.

Constituents of Social Determinants of Health

Social health determinants refer to the conditions prevailing in the environments where people are born, grow, live, work and age. These conditions are influenced by wealth, power, and resource distribution both at the global, nation and local levels. Progressively down the social ladder, the life expectancy diminishes, and more diseases become more prone. A poor set of social and economic circumstances negatively affect health extensively throughout the communities ("Indigenous health (AIHW)", 2016). Those who are further down the social ladder are twice more likely to face serious illnesses and premature deaths as compared to the affluent. The material as well as psychological factors both significantly contribute to these disparities whose effects are attributed to deaths as well as diseases. The disadvantage can range from having a limited asset collection, an insecure or no employment, low educational levels during adolescent stage, being stuck in a job that is not engaging or motivating, having a thin pension resource to survive on, bringing up a family under difficult circumstances and living under poor housing conditions. These social and economic disadvantages have a tendency of revolving around the same people for longer periods of time ("National Press Club: Social Determinants of Health Forum", 2016). The longer people live under these disadvantaged circumstances, the more psychologically they suffer and the less the likelihood of them having an enjoyable and healthy life at old age. Understanding the implications of these determinants will go a long way in formulating policies that seek to improve the health status of the community.

Action Plans

The action plan involves five steps by the World Health Organization (WHO) to improve health equity. The action plan involves the Rio Political Declaration on the social determinants of health. The WHO is supporting the Rio Declaration implementation in five areas. Action Area one is improving decision-making and health policies. WHO assists the given member states to promote health policies and strengthen decision making processes involving other sectors and in developing effective policies with attainable measurable results, to address social determinants of both health and health inequities (Who.int, 2015).

Action area two is to widen participation in both policy making and implementation. The WHO supports the member states in increasing and improving the participation of communities and civil societies in health policy-making and implementation in order to address social determinants of health (Who.int, 2015).

Action area three focuses the health sector on improving equity. The WHO supports member states by providing more available, accessible, high quality and affordable health care services to reduce healthcare inequities and to prioritize the social determinants of health and health equity in all its policies, strategies and programmes (Who.int, 2015).

Action area four strengthens global collaboration. The WHO supports the member states by providing access to technical cooperation and financial resources, and in improving international cooperation through working with other UN agencies (Who.int, 2015).

The final action involves monitoring the impact and progress. The WHO helps the member states in tracking the ever-changing trends in health inequities, and impacts of actions and policies, and in making the policies more amortized and accountable to citizens (Who.int, 2015).

The WHO Social Determinants of Health and Strategies

These action plans to revolve around formulating appropriate policies to address socially related health plans. The determinants include work, employment or the lack of it, social support, social exclusion, stress and the social element.

Social transitions

Life consists of a series of transitions each having its own set of emotional as well as material facets; from early childhood to primary and secondary education to employment, to raising a family, changing jobs, facing the possible risk of redundancy and retiring at last. Each of these transitions comes with its own set of circumstances that affect health by swaying the individuals either to more or less wealth. Since those who had been earlier at a disadvantaged position are at a greater risk of falling with each subsequent transition, it is important that welfare policies formulated should offer a life line for these individuals as well as ensure that they do not retreat back to the disadvantaged circumstances. To improve health standards. Therefore, it is important to improve the educational levels and standards and ensure that failure levels are kept as low as possible. It is also important to reduce risk and uncertainty associated with employment as well as improving the housing standards. Structures should be set up that encourage the participation of all individuals in the society to participate in improving the social, economic and the cultural welfare. In so doing, the general health of the community at large will be improved as compared to a society riddled with insecurity, lack, and deprivation (Qureshi, 2015).

Stress

Stress causes anxiety, depression and inability to cope among individuals, leading to poor health and premature death. Prolonged insecurity and lack of a supporting framework of friendships lead to long lasting psychological effects that will negatively affect the health status of an individual. The more marginalized a community is, the more prevalent the psychological problems. When we are exposed to emergency situations, our system triggers hormonal excretions that prepare us to flee or fight. A frequent triggering of these responses diverts energy intended for important physiological processes in the body vital for the maintenance of a healthy state in the body. If these responses become too common, the subjects become susceptible to a wide range of conditions that include hypertension and diabetes. To maintain a healthy psychological state, it is imperative that the conditions prevailing in schools, the office and all other institutions should offer security to all concerned parties. The institutions should promote a culture that encourages participation of all people and appreciating each and every individual. Such environments foster better health compared to those that exclude, disregard and misuse individuals. Government policies also need to focus on the psychological needs of the citizens and not just the material needs as it is the norm ("Social Determinants of Health | Healthy People 2020", 2016). The government can meet the psychological needs of its populace by offering help and support to young families, reduce incidences of marginalization and discrimination in the community, encourage community participation and deal with material and financial insecurities.

Early life

The early life of each individual has long lasting impact on their entire lifespan. The foundations of an adult life are laid before birth and during early childhood. Lack of emotional support at this stage coupled with poor growth lead to poor cognitive development, and a lifelong risk of poor physical health. Poor conditions prevailing at pregnancy can lead to a chain of events ranging from poor development of the fetus, maternal stress, incidences of smoking or drug abuse by the mother and lack of exercise. To address these issues, it is imperative that provide access to and improve the educational standards so as boost maternal and infant heath status in the long run. The provision of good nutrition coupled with health education programs before and during pregnancy as well as during infancy will go a long way in boosting the growth and development of the infant as well as its mother and reduce the likelihood of prevalence of diseases. Parental relations with their children should also be bolstered by frequent interactions, good support in schools and communication. Risks to early childhood are more pronounced among marginalized and poor communities and can be improved by improving the education levels of the parents and children alike. Preventative health care should also be introduced before first pregnancies as well as pre and postnatal care for the mothers and babies ("The health and welfare of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people 2011 (AIHW)", 2016).

The working environment

A stressful working environment predisposes employees to the greater risk of disease. Individuals with more control over their working environment are generally healthier than their opposite counterparts. Having a job is a good health boost as opposed to having no job. There is, however, more to having a job that affects the health of the employees: the style of management prevailing at the work place and the social relations created have a huge impact on the health status of the individuals. Stressful work increases the chances of diseases and premature death. Perceptions of inadequate rewards for ones work output have been linked to increasing risks of cardiovascular diseases. Involvement of employees in decision-making at the work place is important to improve their productivity and general health status. The institution of good management in the organization will also help in improvin...