For Native Groups, the Link Between Cultural Loss and Poor Health

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

Some of the longest-lasting effects of colonization can be found in the health of the native people who were colonized. Indigenous and aboriginal groups are often less healthy than the people whose ancestors settled in their lands.

In Canada, for example, indigenous -- or First Nation -- people live on average seven fewer years than Canadians of European ancestry. Aboriginal Australians live on average seventeen fewer years than white Australians.

Malcolm King from the University of Alberta is scientific director of Canada's Institute of Aboriginal Peoples' Health.

MALCOLM KING: "In simple terms, things such as type two diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, infectious diseases of a variety of types, and lung diseases and so on, are all found at higher than the comparison rates within the country, in many of these countries with indigenous populations."

Professor King says loss of culture, land and language all play a part in poor health. Having an identity, he says, is especially important for mental health. For example, many indigenous children in Canada were taken from their families and sent to live at schools. They were educated in the European system. So they never had a normal chance to develop a cultural identity.

Malcolm King says measures to deal with some of these problems might fall outside traditional health interventions.

MALCOLM KING: "We're proposing that health researchers get involved in projects like housing, like economic development, certainly educational projects, and study the health effects -- hopefully the health benefits -- of these complex social, economic interactions. And by learning what it is about economic development or housing that actually helps to improve health, we can then design more programs and ultimately make better use of the knowledge that we have."

There are almost four hundred million indigenous people in the world. Poverty, malnutrition, overcrowding, lack of clean conditions, pollution and limited health services are all causes of their poor health. Malcolm King and other researchers wrote about this in the medical journal The Lancet earlier this month.

They noted that some groups, as they move away from traditional ways of life, are developing diseases of modern living. These include obesity, heart disease and type two diabetes. They are also experiencing physical, social and mental disorders linked to the misuse of alcohol and drugs. The researchers say governments have a responsibility to work with indigenous people to help them solve problems in their community.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report. I'm Faith Lapidus.

殖民主义的长期影响可以通过殖民地本土居民的健康状况体现出来。土著和原始人群的健康状况往往比移居到这里的人差。

例如，在加拿大，土著居民的人均寿命比欧洲血统的加拿大人少7年。原始澳大利亚人的人均寿命比白种澳大利亚人少17年。

Malcolm King是亚伯达大学加拿大土著居民健康研究所的主任。

亚伯达：“用简单的话说，在许多拥有土著居民的国家，二型糖尿病，心血管疾病，多种类型传染病，肺病等等在土著居民中的感染率均高过对比率。”

King教授说，文化，土地和语言的缺失均对健康状况差起到一定的作用。他说，拥有文化身份对人的精神健康来说特别重要。例如，加拿大学多土著居民的孩子都被送到寄宿学校读书。他们接受欧洲方式的教育。所以，他们根本没有开发文化身份的正常机会。

Malcolm King说，解决这些问题仅仅依靠传统的健康系统介入是远远不够的。

Malcolm King：“我们提议健康研究人员介入房地产，经济发展，特定的教育项目等等，研究这些复杂的社会和经济因素与健康状况之间的相互作用。通过了解经济发展或房地产对健康状况的影响，我们可以设计更多的项目，最终更好地利用我们已经掌握的知识。”

全世界大约有4亿土著居民。贫穷，营养不良，人口密度过大，缺乏清洁环境，污染和医疗设施有限均是导致健康不良的原因。Malcolm King 和其他研究人员在本月初《柳叶刀》期刊的一篇文章中提到了这些。

他们指出，随着土著居民逐渐从传统的生活方式中脱离出来，他们逐渐患上现代生活的一些疾病，包括肥胖，心脏病和二型糖尿病。他们还经历着与误用酒精和药物而引起的身体机能，社会和精神混乱。研究人员指出，政府有责任帮助土著居民解决这些问题。