Notes on Core 1 – Health Priorities in Australia

Resource Description

 

How are priority issues in Australia’s health identified?

• Measuring health status

• Role of epidemiology
• Measures of epidemiology (mortality, infant mortality, morbidity & life expectancy)

Measuring Health Status

Health Status – refers to the pattern of health of a general population over time

• It is necessary to understand the health status of a population in order to identify health priority issues

Role of epidemiology

Epidemiology – refers to the study of patterns & causes of health & disease in populations

• It is utilised by the government & organisations to picture the health status of Australians
• It demonstrates patterns of disease through;

• Prevalence – the number of cases of a disease in a population at a time, eg 20,000 people in Australia are infected with HIV

• Incidence – the number of new cases of disease occurring in a population, eg Approximately 800 new diagnosis of HIV annually

• Indicators & determinants – causes 

• Trends

• The stats enable governments/organisations/medical researchers to

• Understand patterns of health in groups
• Evaluate health behaviours & strategies
• Determine priority areas for the allocation of govt. Funding
• Determine policy in levels of govt
• Eg epidemiology indicates that deaths from heart disease are decreasing

• Epidemiology generally uses the negative statistics to increase the health status such as; birth, deaths, disease incidence etc.

Limitations of Epidemiology

• It doesn’t always show the variations between population subgroups (eg. Non-Aboriginal vs Aboriginal
• Fails to explain why health inequities persist and doesn’t give the full grasp of the health picture
• Eg. The National Health Survey aimed to gain an insight into dwellings, it showed trends in illnesses (colds), however didn’t demonstrate cancers etc. They could have used hospital records instead of casual conversation with people living in homes

Benefits of Epidemiology

• Provides knowledge and insight into various diseases/cases
• It addresses inequities in health, eg Poor health promotion

Measures of Epidemiology

Mortality – refers to the number of deaths in a group of people or from disease over an annual time period

• Leading causes of death = coronary Heart disease, dementia & cerebrovascular disease (AIHW)

• Eg 158,504 deaths (2016) – 51% male &49% female

Infant mortality – refers to the number of infant deaths (1yo or younger)

• It can be used in some cases to predict adult life expectancy 
• Eg. 3.1 deaths for every 1000 births (2016) – declined due to improved medical diagnosis, however is higher in ATSI children

Morbidity – refers to the patterns of illness, disease & injury which don’t result in death

• Used in hospitals to provide information on dangerous diseases (cancer & stroke)
• Eg, 380 people daily are diagnosed with cancer (2018)
• Eg steady increase in breast cancer diagnosis in women, 120 in 100,000 women (2012)

Life expectancy – refers to the predicted length of time a person can expect to live

• This has increased due to lower infant mort rates and also a decrease in motor fatalities, greater hygiene & nutrition as well
• It has led to an increased demand on the health sector – due to the elderly’s reliance on hospital facilities etc
• Eg Average LE – 84.5 (females) – 80.4 (males)

 

• Identifying priority health issues

• Social justice principles
• Priority population groups
• Prevalence of condition
• Potential for prevention & early intervention
• Costs to the individual & community

• Priority issues are based on the contribution of the illness to the community & whether or not they can reduce numbers by focusing on 5 key areas (syllabus)

Social Justice Principles

• • Social Justice principles refer to the minimisation of health inequities, promotion of diversity & establishing creative environments to population groups who need them

• Equity – resources are allocated in accordance to the individual needs with a desired goal of equality outcomes 

• Results in priority groups being allocated more funding to reduce the inequality level
• Eg ATSI require more funding to reduce the health inequality

• Diversity – refers to differences in groups & individuals

• All individuals should have access to health care & achieve good health outcomes
• Eg providing health brochures in multiple languages

• Supportive Environments – refer to environments which promote health & safety of individuals/communities to increase their ability to make good health choices

• Eg rural & remote people lack supportive environments

• Aust. gov address inequities in health which have high prevalence/incidence & also the inequities in economic, social & political influences
• Eg there is a higher incidence of diabetes in Indigenous Australians than non
• The fix to this would be providing equal access to info/education & health services to reduce the growing new cases of diabetes

Priority Population Groups

• Due to multiculturalism, different subgroups have different health inequities – by identifying these groups they can minimise the effects of the health issues
• By determining which group it is, the govt can understand the underlying determinants of health which could be impeding on general wellbeing/health & also close the gap between groups
• they assign epidemiologists to find data such as;

• Indigenous people have a higher death rate from heart disease

• People from low SES are more prone to disease/injury & have a higher incidence

• Men are more likely to develop heart disease & cancer opposed to women

• These groups become more of a priority over others in order to reduce the gap

Prevalence of Condition

• • Epidemiological data provides stats on morbidity & mortality of illnesses – which leads to health issues
  • The greater the prevalence, the greater the issue – priority health issue
  • These stats can indicate economic & health issues which may burden the community

• Eg cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of preventable death in Australia (35% of all deaths)

Potential for prevention & early intervention

• As a health issue gets larger, it is essential that they prevent the amount of cases in order for treatment to work
• By analysing the stats of the prevalence, the govt realise that the majority of diseases are a result of poor lifestyle behaviours which are reflective of economic/environmental status (such as SES, access to education/info & health services are sources of health inequities)
• For the sicknesses & deaths to be reduced, there should be a change in the lifestyle behaviours & they should be addressed & then illnesses can be prevented from choice
• Eg lung cancer can be reduced by telling/informing people to stop smoking

Costs to the individual & community

• Disease & illness can burden society through economic & health factors

Individual

• Cost of treatment/medication  may be too expensive & they cannot afford it
• disease/injury will affect income status as they will normally have to take time off work
• Anxiety & stress levels may rise
• Relationships deteriorate > due to illness between families/partners

Community

• Economic growth may be halted due to many people taking time off (if this is noticed then more funding may be used to search for more efficient treatment/cures)
• Output from firms may be stopped which again halts growth, reducing tax revenue for the govt which then reduces the amount of funding which can go into research etc.
• Cost of providing treatment facilities – hospitals & also the cost of research allowance
• Cost of premature death & insurance money etc

Eg CVD is very expensive to treat, often involving large surgical procedures, lengthy recovery periods, loss of independence, loss of income, and is linked with lower self-esteem levels