Physical and Mental Health Impacts of Housing to Australian Indigenous Children

Essay from the year 2018 in the subject Medicine - Medical Frontiers and Special Areas, grade: 1, Egerton University, language: English, abstract: In retrospect, Australian Indigenous children have poorer health than non-indigenous children and Indigenous infants have been said to be up to four times more likely to die than non-Indigenous infants. There is an increased incidence of illness in Indigenous children directly related to poor housing, compared with the rest of the Australian population. Physical and mental health implications resulting from inadequate shelter will be discussed in relation to the sub factors of building structure and overcrowding. For the purpose of this paper, the various physical and mental health impacts of housing as shelter will be considered, with specific focus on the health of Australian Indigenous children. Housing of sufficient standard to enable health is a basic human right. Though, there are many other social factors, including socioeconomic status and remoteness, impact on housing can be considered separately as an environmental determinant of health.