Food Nutrition for Aboriginal and Torres Strait- MyAssignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theFood Nutrition for Aboriginal and Torres Strait. Answer: Introduction Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are the Indigenous people of Australia. They existed in Australia and the surrounding Islands long before the European colonization. On the other hand, Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities refers to people from communities with different ethnicity, language, traditions, religion and diet characteristics. They were born overseas countries whose English is not their first language. Based on the Australian Bureau of statistics put the population of Western Australia at 77,000 people with 3.1% being the Indigenous people (ABS 2017). In the year 2004-5, 24% of the Indigenous reported to lacked food in the previous year unlike the 4% Non- Australians The indigenous population lived throughout the country and on the Tasmanian Island, in Western Desert areas of Australia, in remote non-urbanized areas where they were nomadic gatherers and hunters from the natural environment Food Nutrition and Security Food Nutrition Food nutrition in relation to human beings refers to providing essential nutrients that are fats carbohydrates, proteins, fiber, minerals and vitamins water that are crucial in supporting human life and health.( Wahlqvist 1997). A good nutrition is important for physical, growth and mental health while on the other hand poor nutrition is more often linked to poverty lead to chronic problems leading to deaths and disabilities all over the world. Poor nutrition increases the risk of getting some of the following diseases; heart disease, kidney disease, diabetes, some cancers, obesity, and anemia among others. The natives food included everything from nuts, seed, vegetables, roots, insects, wild game and fish and other unique Australian flavor. The Indigenous Aborigines were hunter and gatherers so ate lots of plant and animal foods and occasionally fish. On the other hand, Torres Strait Islanders ate more of seafood than anything else. In my recent visit to West Kimberly Western Australia, Aboriginal people usually reported lessening the food insecurity by fishing or crabbing on the traditional lands. They highly valued having control of this part of life even though it accounted for a tiny portion of their total dietary intake. The healthy traditional foods that were rich in fiber, a protein with low saturated fat have been replaced by the western-style foods that highly processed and are full of energy with ingredients like fat and sugar and little of beneficial nutrients. There has been a reduction in employment opportunities, availability of social welfare benefits as well as alcohol becoming freely available that has hindered availability of nutritious lifestyle. This change from the indigenous diet lifestyle has also affected other groups of people living in these areas like the Pima Indians. Nutrition has a big impact of the following; growth in the womb, Infancy and early childhood growth, birth weight chronic diseases like diabetes, overweight and obesity that generally affect the wellbeing of humans. Some of the factors that affect the nutrition of people include; Geographic factors: Many Indigenous populations live throughout the country and on the Tasmanian Island, in Western Desert areas of Australia, in remote non-urbanized areas where there is a lack of fresh nutritious food. Incases its available it has deteriorated in value and is very costly. Socioeconomically factors: this includes employment, salaries and earnings of the individuals, and the educational status Environmental factors: this includes housing, availability of cooking services, availability of clean water and waste disposal. The conditions of living of many Indigenous people and others in the rural remote areas are not so good. Food Security Food Security is the capability of people or communities to get healthy food regularly and easily. This is influenced by the local supply of food, the capability, and the resources to access sufficiently, safe and highly nutrition providing food to meet their bodily needs for a healthy lifestyle. There used to be abundant food, fresh water, and shelter. A healthy lifestyle was readily available until the conflict brought about by colonization as the hunting and gathering became unsustainable and resources were depleted and water polluted. The European civilization brought with it devastation through development, vandalism and natural erosion in a short period of time changing the way of life of the ancient people. It does not underestimate the extent of the problem of food security to other vulnerable groups like the homeless non-Indigenous Australians including the immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers non-Australians. The high cost of living constrained education results and employment opportunities with inadequate social services like public transport has created economic uncertainty for the Australian Indigenous people. The access to nutritious affordable food is a continuous struggle in the remote indigenous communities. The artificially inflated high cost of living in these areas brought about by the mining bust and boom, and generally, suffers a lack of high-quality foods and fresh fruits and vegetables. Lack of nutritious food or any food for that matter has affected greatly the indigenous people as observed on a recent visit to Western Australia. The Indigenous people are more likely to have chronic illness or disability than the ordinary Non- Indigenous Australian; poor nutrition complicates further the problems. Factors that determine food security Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders with the other communities with Cultural and Linguistic Diversity (CALD) of Western Australia is: Social and cultural determinants: The choice of food are determined by finances capabilities more than nutrition and to an extent, the original history, discrimination and cultural identity and beliefs can affect the nutrition and access to food at times leading to reliance on food reliefs from the government and other private institutions Lack of knowledge in healthy choices, cookery skills, and household budgets Substance abuse especially alcohol, drug abuse and gambling in some households are priority over food Lack of public transport in the remote areas has made it next to impossible for the people to access nutritious food Cultural and Family Commitments as well as Transient Lifestyles: Low Income: The low educational standards for these communities fetch less income from employment. This directly affects their purchasing power for the food commodities. Overcrowding and household infrastructure: Low incomes have led to poor household infrastructure and overcrowding in the said communities. In such cases, the kitchens were not enough for the occupants of the house. Addressing Food Access and Food Supply Food security is determined by a broad mix of interventions and is multi-dimensional. The aim of this part is to help us answer the assignment questions in view with Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders with the other communities with Cultural and Linguistic Diversity (CALD) of Western Australia. Interventions to Improve Food Supply Include: Food production; this includes growing of vegetables and fruits in form of community allotments and gardens in the disadvantaged areas. Food transport and retail outlets; Many Australians obtain their food from the retail shops and outlets as such the availability and access to such greatly influences the food security of the communities. Food aid and subsided meals; food aid is the provision of free or highly subsidized mean usually to the poor and most helpless community members temporarily during the crisis while others require aid for longer periods. On the other hand subsided food and meal are considered as a service to the low-income earners to boost their food security. The government works hand in hand with welfare agencies like St Vincent de Paul to influence food supply of healthy food and as a result, reduce the risk of food security within the communities. St. Vincent de Paul agency has had a great impact on the vulnerable communities across the country. In Western Australia, it helps through the Emergency Relief and Home visitation where they provide assistance food, budget advice, bills, material aid, advocacy, friendship and support all aimed at improving the food supply. It also works with Refugees and migrants by helping them settle in their new homes in Western Australia by offering Emergency relief like food, advocacy among others. Interventions to Improve Food Access Include: Integrated services and referral systems; to reach the most need, forming guidelines between welfare and health agencies is effectively eliminate any barriers to food security like home visitations, food and material aid, social and welfare services among others. St. Vincent de Paul agency in Western Australia is the best example of food security program by the community-based organizations and the government not only for the Aboriginal community but as well other vulnerable communities in the region. Transportation to food suppliers; For the vulnerable groups that rely on public transport, strategies like community buses can be put in place to make food accessible to the communities. Health education; it is important to equip the community with knowledge in food, nutrition, and life skills Storage and kitchen facilities; encourage communities to provide enough cooking and food storing areas in the household to cater for healthy meals at costs that are lower. Action required for sustained food security Effective and sustained actions to improve food nutrition and security include: Capacity building; there is a need for experts in nutrition and health promotion workers aimed at promoting good health. Funding; governmental funding is essential to effectively address the problems of the community for the long term. Monitoring food security; lack of monitoring of food security and nutrition, particularly among Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders with the other communities with Cultural and Linguistic Diversity (CALD) communities has led to a lack of awareness and policy actions. Research and evaluation; there lacks research attention to address food nutrition and security for Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders with the other communities with Cultural and Linguistic Diversity (CALD) communities Partnerships; there needs to be the formation of partnerships and networking with collaboration for successful food security intervention. Conclusion The weight of lifestyle diseases that face Indigenous Australians has been brought about majorly by poor nutrition. The factors that affect the supply and access to food contribute to food insecurity that results in poor nutrition that directly affects physical, ability to work, mental and social wellbeing; however, there has been insufficient research and policy on the issues. References Gibney, M. J., Lanham-New, S. A., Cassidy, A., Vorster, H. H. (2013). Introduction to Human Nutrition. New York, NY: John Wiley Sons. Lawrence, G., Lyons, K., Wallington, T. (2010). Food security, nutrition and sustainability. London: Earthscan. Wahlqvist, M. L. (2002). Food and nutrition: Australasia, Asia and the Pacific. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen Unwin. Berndt, R. M., Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies. (1977). Aborigines and change: Australia in the '70s. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies. Nutrition and growth among Indigenous peoples available at https://www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au Australian Bureau of Statistics. Available at https://www.abs.gov.au/ Defining food security. Available at https://www.fao.org St Vincent De Paul Society National Council of Australia. Available at https://www.vinnies.org.au/