Cancer appears to be the disease of the century, as it presents the most frequent reasons for deaths. Lung cancer is the most often type of oncological diseases, causing the greatest amount of fatal outcomes (Bilano et al., 2015). Due to poor social position, destructive lifestyle, unhealthy traditions and habits, Indigenous Australians are susceptible to various illnesses, and lung cancer is among them. The purpose of this paper is to examine Indigenous Australians’ lifestyle and propose the lung cancer prevention program.
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians present groups of the population that have resided in Australia since before British colonization. They also include Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders cultural groups. Occasionally, all the groups mentioned above are called First Australians. The moment of their arrival in Australia is a controversial issue. Various opinions are introduced, with the possible time of arrival ranging from 125,000 to 50,000 years BP. Today, the population of Indigenous Australians is estimated at 318,000-1,000,000. The average life duration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders presents a matter of disputes (Simpson, 2015). They represent a separate Australoid race, whose characteristics are dark complexion, full lips, a wide nose, retreating forehead, strong arcus superciliaris, and wavy hair. Other distinctive features are medium hair-coverage, massive teeth, long limbs, and medium or tall height.
British colonization had a negative impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, their lifestyle. Although colonization occurred in 1788, its negative effect is visible and presents discrimination, losses of identity, native language, and culture (Newton, 2017). Moreover, the level of education appears to be rather low as compared to non-Indigenous people. Indigenous students attend school less regularly than others, and the literacy and numeracy level is not high (Moore, 2016). Indigenous Australians are less likely to enter a university, which combined with various forms of discrimination in the workplace causes a problem of unemployment and poor quality of life. Although the situation is gradually improving, it still presents a pressing concern.
Discrimination, undereducation, employment difficulties, low income affect the life and the health of Indigenous Australians directly. Renal, communicable and respiratory diseases are a common sight, as well as problems with mental health. Moreover, the record shows that a significant number of Indigenous Australians are susceptible to substance abuse, including both legal and illegal drugs, alcohol addiction, tobacco smoking, and petrol sniffing. Therefore, the lifestyle remains wanting, and for this reason, there is a variety of diseases that are spread among Indigenous Australians. One of them is cancer, which is the subject of the paper.
Cancer among Indigenous Australians
Lung cancer is a commonplace among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, and this issue is needed to be paid attention to. Lung cancer poses a hazard to life, as in this case, the disease progression is rapid. Lung cancer requires urgent and comprehensive treatment, and, occasionally, due to the poor financial condition, it is impossible for Indigenous Australians. Moreover, the statics is gloomy, as Indigenous Australians are more susceptible to cancer than Europeans. The reasons for developing lung cancer are smoking tobacco, alcohol abuse, and undernutrition (Scollo et al., 2015). Furthermore, there are a great number of risk factors, causing lung cancer, among Indigenous Australian community. The most significant one is smoking, and both its active and passive forms have a harmful influence. Moreover, genetic predisposition raises the risk of cancerous tumor growth. This way, the necessity to pay attention to this issue and creating a prevention program is apparent.
Lung Cancer Prevention Program
Smoking cessation considerably lessens the risk of developing cancer and the probability of the fatal outcome. The more extended period a person does not smoke, the less the risks become. Regardless of age, people, who quit smoking, are less likely to die with the disease. Even if the tumor is diagnosed, it is vital to quit smoking. If a person was performed operation or received another treatment, smoking cessation is helpful for improving the ability of an organism to recover. Moreover, it allows to raise the effectiveness of anticancer treatment, lessen the risks of lung inflammation and respiratory distress. Quitting smoking lessens the probability of cancer recurrence and formation of other types of cancer tumors.
Although Australian tobacco control is comprehensive and includes regulation of promotion, advising on smoking cessation, propaganda via mass media, some improvement in anti-smoking policy is required. The necessary measure is providing additional restrictions to smoking via special laws (Moore, 2016). For instance, the restriction on smoking in public places would contribute to the problem’s solution. This way, not only smokers would become unable to smoke frequently, but also passive smoking would decrease too. In addition, raising prices for cigarettes would be an effective method of controlling, as they would become less affordable for a significant number of people. In general, legislative restrictions appear to be extremely helpful in the fight against widespread smoking and would allow to decrease the cases of sticking to this habit.
Another possible measure is comprehensive propaganda against smoking, especially among children. It is much more effective to adopt a healthy lifestyle by children than by adults. Getting acquainted with such a lifestyle and the harm of smoking should become an obligatory part of the curriculum. This way, children could understand the importance of healthy habits and the destructive influence of smoking. Moreover, this measure would allow to prevent children from other risk factors of cancer, such as alcohol abuse.
The realization of a plan is possible via promotion these ideas via opinion leaders, who people are bent to believe and follow their suggestions. When these ideas become popular and socially acceptable, it is essential to take the aforementioned actions. However, the realization may encounter some obstacles, such as unwillingness to follow new restrictions. These obstacles are possible to overcome by giving some time for adopting for them and then providing fines for inobservance. In general, all the suggestions mentioned above are focused on the fight with smoking addiction and starting this destructive habit. That is why they would appear helpful for lung cancer prevention, as they regard raising the quality of life and adopting healthy habits.
Conclusion
In summary, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders suffer from a range of problems, which present pressing concerns. British colonization has led to serious consequences, which are notable nowadays. They are followed by a harmful lifestyle and destructive and unhealthy habits. For these reasons, a great number of severe diseases are widespread among Indigenous Australian community. Cancer, especially lung cancer, is one of the most frequent cases. In order to decrease the number of cases, it is essential to take appropriate measures, allowing to lessen risk factors. The most harmful one is smoking, and this habit appears to be extremely popular among Indigenous Australians. The possible methods of prevention from smoking are implementing special laws and propaganda among the population. This way, people would try to stick to a healthy lifestyle and quit smoking, and therefore, the risk of developing cancer would become much lower.
References
Bilano, V., Borja, M., Cruz, E., Tan, A., Mortera, L., & Reganit, P. (2015). Smoking-attributable burden of lung cancer in the Philippines. Tobacco Control, 24(3), 263-268.
Moore, T. (2016). Interculturality, postethnicity and the Aboriginal Australian policy future. Ethnicities, 16(5), 712-732.
Newton, J. (2017). Two Victorian corroborees: Meaning making in response to European intrusion. Aboriginal History, 41, 121-149.
Scollo, M., Bayly, M., & Wakefield, M. (2015). Plain packaging: A logical progression for tobacco control in one of the world’s ‘darkest markets’. Tobacco Control, 24, Ii3-Ii8.
Simpson, B. (2015). Casestudy: Investing in Indigenous Australia: The issue of traditional knowledge IP. AQ: Australian Quarterly, 86(1), 31-36.