Health Priorities CQ2 Flashcards
Nature and extent of ATSI health inequities?
- 2.5 times higher smoking rates
- Life expectancy 10 years lower for both males and females than non ATSI
- 3 times higher rates of preventable diseases
- Obesity rate 1.6 times higher
- 90% of ATSI children have otitis media
- 2.5 times more likely to have cancer
- 5 times more likely to have kidney disease
- Infant mortality rate = 6.4 (double non ATSI)
- CVD is 2 times more likely than non indigenous
- Diabetes is 3.5 times more likely than non indigenous
Contributing determinants of health for ATSI inequality
SOCIOCULTURAL
- Religion: holistic view of health that does not involve traditional medicine
- Culture: English as a second language
- Family and peers: High instances of smoking, alcohol and drug abuse, poor diet make it more difficult for individuals to become healthy
SOCIOECONOMIC
- Education: Statistically lower levels of education - half as likely to finish year 12. This lowers health literacy and limits their employment opportunities
- Higher levels of unemployment, thus miss out on social benefits, feelings of confidence and control and income. Also, employment is likely to be labour work.
- Lower average income. Affects their financial capacity to make healthy lifestyle choices and their access to health care and medicine.
ENVIRONMENTAL
- Location: rural, lack healthy infrastructure including safe drinking water, effective sewerage systems and rubbish collection services
- Access to health services: due to location, ATSI do not have equal access to medical clinics, doctors and nurses.
Role of individuals in addressing ATSI health inequities
- ATSI people adopt and are proactive in making positive lifestyle choices/behaviours as many diseases are directly related to lifestyle
- ATSI people develop and drive health solution
- There is the full participation of ATSI peoples and their representative bodies in all aspects of addressing their health needs
- *For example The ‘closing the gap’ campaign has established to support pregnant women to improve their own health and the health of their children under the $37.4m over four years Australian Nurse Family Partnership Program
Role of communities in addressing ATSI health inequities
- Provide extra support in facilitating a healthy lifestyle due to cultural constrictions that hinder the individual’s ability to improve their lifestyle
- Educate and increase awareness of health issues
- Act as a connector between government services and the individual
- *Purple House in Alice Springs - provides assistance and support for ATSI undertaking kidney dialysis
Role of governments in addressing ATSI health inequities
- The federal government funds primary health care and infrastructure. The government works closely with other sectors such as finance, education, agriculture, environment, housing and transport to examine how their policies can help achieve their own objective while also improving ATSI health.
- The ‘Close the Gap’ campaign involves all 3 levels of government - to commit to closing the life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians within a generation.
- *The Australian government has provided significant new funding under the Early Childhood Education National Partnership ($970 million over five years) to help all children get access to affordable, quality early childhood education in the year before formal schooling
Define socioeconomically disadvantaged
The socioeconomically disadvantaged are associated with lower standards of income, education and inadequate housing.
Nature and extent of SED health inequities?
- Asthma 1.3 times higher
- Smoking rates and progressive lung disease 2.7 times higher
- Physical inactivity 1.4 times higher
- Diabetes 2.6 times higher
- Obesity 1.6 times higher
- CHD 1.7 times higher
Contributing determinants of health for SED inequality
SOCIOCULTURAL
- Family and peers: Underlying presence of risk factors within the social/cultural background of individuals make it more difficult for them to be healthy.
- Media: Lack of health and media literacy means this group is vulnerable to misinformation e.g. films glorifying drug use
SOCIOECONOMIC
- Education: Statistically lower levels of education - half as likely to finish year 12. This lowers health literacy and limits their employment opportunities
- Employment: Higher levels of unemployment, thus miss out on social benefits, feelings of confidence and control and income. Also, employment is likely to be labour work.
- Income: Lower average income. Affects their financial capacity to make healthy lifestyle choices and their access to health care and medicine.
ENVIRONMENTAL
- Location: High proportion of this group live in rural or remote areas, and will miss out on incidental exercise and have less access to healthcare services such as gyms of specialists.
- Access to healthcare: Less access to healthcare due to income and location, thus miss out on preventative healthcare measures
Role of individuals in addressing SED health inequities
Individuals from SED need to accept a degree of responsibility for the personal lifestyle choices they make that impact on their health, but it is unreasonable to apportion all ‘blame’. A reduced financial capacity, which makes affording healthy lifestyle choices more difficult, needs to be acknowledged
Role of communities in addressing SED health inequities
- Give extra support to individuals
- Act as the conduit between the individuals and government services
- *Youth Off the Streets (education and employability)
- *Dress for success (employability)
- *Ozharvest (food education)
Role of government in addressing SED health inequities
- Ensuring access to free or low cost health care through Medicare and the Pharmaceutical benefits Scheme (PBS).
- Newstart Job Allowance for young people looking for work
- Department of Housing providing dwellings for people who are SED
- Providing policy development and direction and infrastructure support
- Including specific education about a broad range of health aspects through the PDHPE curriculum, which is mandatory in NSW for Years K-10.
Nature of cardiovascular disease
Cardiovascular disease refers to all the diseases of the circulatory system (heart and blood vessels
What is coronary heart disease?
the poor supply of blood to the muscular walls of the heart by its own blood supply vessels, the coronary arteries
What is a stroke?
the interruption of the supply of blood to the brain
What is peripheral vascular disease?
diseases of the arteries, arterioles and capillaries that affect the limbs, usually reducing blood supply to the legs
