VCAA Health and Human Development Promoting health in Australia

The ASH program improves health and wellbeing outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as healthcare services are culturally appropriate, meaning they would have lower stress and anxiety when accessing healthcare, promoting mental health and wellbeing. Further, this cultural appropriateness means more Aboriginals would access health services allowing illness / diseases to get treated, promoting physical health and wellbeing.

Principle: Empowers individuals and communities

Explanation: The program provides HIV/AIDS education and prevention knowledge, thus empowering Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to make informed decisions to improve their health and wellbeing. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are also involved in the planning of health care which empowers the community.

Action area 1: Strengthen community action could involve partnership between local gyms, schools and local government to provide young people with a series of fun, free physical activity sessions tailored to their age group, that could assist in making exercise more fun. This could make young Australians more likely to engage in physical activity and do so ongoingly as they develop a positive and fun relationship with exercise.

Action area 2: Create supportive environments: This relates to creating/changing physical and sociocultural environments to promote health outcomes. This could include changing the physical environment by building more parks and walkways and playgrounds that provide more areas for young Australians to be physically active in, increasing the likelihood of engaging in physical exercise, reducing the low levels of physical activity among young Australians.

Develop personal skills: refers to increasing individuals health related knowledge and skills so that they have increased capacity to make decisions regarding their health, allowing them to make healthier decisions, such as consuming adequate amounts of vegetables. The NSW Knockout Health challenge provides Aboriginal Australians with group cooking classes so that they have the skills and are better able to cook nutritious meals. Similarly it provides nutrition or physical activity education lessons to allow them to have the knowledge to maintain a healthy body weight and promote their physical health and wellbeing.

1. Limit intake of saturated fat, sugars, salts and alcohol – this is shown in the Healthy Eating Pyramid in the top left hand corner, shown by an image of salts and sugar with an "X" through them (guideline 3).

2. Enjoy a wide variety of nutritious food from the five food groups and drink plenty of water – the Healthy Eating Pyramid visualises a glass of water and the levels of the pyramid contain the five food groups; vegetables, fruit, grain, meat and dairy, relating to the guideline (guideline 2).

Nutrition workshops and seminars: Nutrition Australia provides these to workplaces where they teach workers how to prepare nutritious and healthy foods and snacks (such as smoothies). This aims to reduce their consumption of quick, processed foods by giving them the skills and knowledge needed to make quick, but healthier alternatives.

Similarity: Both the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Guide to Healthy Eating and the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating are visual tools that visually represent the proportion of each of the five food groups that should be consumed, including fruits, vegetables and legumes, meats and alternatives, dairy foods and grains.

Difference: The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Guide to Healthy Eating features foods from Indigenous cultures such as bush fruits and kangaroo meat, whereas the Australian Guide to Healthy eating does not contain these cultural foods and has more generic items.

Housing: People may not have the resources to adequately prepare and cook foods, such as an oven or stove making it difficult to cook nutritious foods at home. This may mean they rely on convenient foods such as microwavable meals or takeaway, which are high in saturated fats, salt and sugar, rather than fresh produce that requires cooking making it difficult to bring about positive nutritional change.

For example: X-rays and GP consultations (see marking criteria for more accepted answers).

Funding: Medicare provides funding to Australians by providing funds to subsidise costs of essential healthcare services for example covering the cost treatment at a public hospital which otherwise may have been too expensive for an individual to cover. This means that Australians are able to get quality treatment such as tumour removal surgery which can allow them to stay free from disease, promoting physical health and wellbeing (HWB). Equity: The Medicare Safety Net provides extra financial help to people who have incurred significant out of pocket costs on Medicare covered services in a calendar year. This means that for the rest of the year Medicare provides extra financial help to alleviate some of the financial stress patients who require on going and frequent medical attention need, thus helping to lower anxiety levels as well and promote mental HWB.

For example: To reduce waiting times for elective surgery, and for a choice of doctor that treats them in hospital (see marking criteria for more accepted answers).

Deaths from tuberculosis have been eliminated.

The biomedical model is an approach to health that focuses on the physical/biological aspects of disease, which involves doctors and health/medical practitioners working to diagnose, treat, and cure diseases. For tuberculosis (TB), this has involved the development of vaccines and antibiotics to reduce its effects in Australia. This has ultimately led to the success of eliminating all deaths, and hence achieving a reduced mortality from TB in Australia. The social model of health, on the other hand, focuses on the broader determinants of health, and aims to provide education and health promotion to focus on disease prevention. For TB, this may have included teaching hygiene practices (e.g. wearing a mask, washing hands), to stop the transmission of TB bacteria in the air to infect others. Therefore, together with the biomedical model of health, the social model of health also works to contribute to the overall reduction of incidence and mortality of TB in Australia.

Build Healthy Public Policy: Governments can raise tax on alcoholic beverages, decreasing attractiveness of buying the alcohol to many conscious buyers as they are made too expensive, decreasing rates of alcohol consumption. The government can also place laws on how many drinks are allowed to be bought from a single customer, for instance at a bar. This would decrease overall alcohol consumption.

Create Supportive Environments: Those suffering with alcohol addiction can access helplines and websites online where others who have experienced or are currently experiencing alcohol addiction share their stories and advice, decreasing alcohol consumption to those who are inspired or want to stop. School or work events such as graduations or Christmas dinner can be held with beverages being supplied that are not alcoholic, and having no alcohol present. This would decrease rates of alcohol consumption.

The PBS is a federal government funded scheme that subsidises the cost of a wide range of prescription medicines to provide Australians with access to cost effective essential medicines at an affordable price. Specifically, it is funded through taxation collected by the federal government. Indeed, the PBS aims to ensure that people have access to the medicines they require, such as blood thinners for treating cardiovascular disease by removing the financial barrier of income. Thus, those who are ill are more likely to be able to afford the medicines they need due to PBS funding subsidising their cost, therefore helping to promote access.

Furthermore the PBS safety net provides additional financial support to those that require a significant amount of medicines in one year once the threshold (＄1550.70) is reached. The government specifically funds this by making co-payments reduced to concession prices through offering concession cards, thus helping to support those who are financially burdened due to chronic conditions requiring medicines, promoting equity.

Food: Having access to safe, nutritionally adequate and culturally appropriate food from local sources allows people to gain adequate nutrients to complete daily tasks. These nutrients boost the immune system to reduce the likelihood of conditions such as influenza, reducing morbidity from decreased respiratory function as a prerequisite for physical and overall health.

Income: Having access to enough money can allow people to buy basic needs like food, water and shelter required to improve health. By not struggling to buy basic necessities to survive people's stress and anxiety in meeting their needs can be reduced to promote mental health and wellbeing.

Medicare is Australia’s universal health insurance scheme by which the Federal government subsidises some or all of the costs of necessary health care. By only providing funds towards health services deemed necessary, the Federal government ensures that the cost of running Medicare remains sustainable into the future. This could allow for an individual with a health condition, such as cardiovascular disease, which may require numerous surgeries such as stents and heart by-pass surgery, to continue accessing free treatment in public hospitals now and into the future, reducing the likelihood that they will suffer a fatal heart attack and thereby reducing Australia’s mortality rates attributed to this condition.

Medicare also promotes equity through the Medicare Safety net, which ensures that individuals who have reached a threshold amount of out-of-pocket expenses on Medicare services in a calendar year can access all further services at a reduced price, and thereby providing extra support to those with enhanced health needs. This could reduce the financial stress and anxiety of someone who requires a multitude of treatments for chronic conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, improving Australia’s mental health and wellbeing.

For example:

(1). It covers Australians who have permanent and significant disability.

(2). If's funded by the government through taxation.

Equity – The NDIS provides appropriate amounts of funding to individuals based on the severity of their disability. This means that those who are more impacted by their disease receive more support, such as funding put towards carers or wheelchairs. This can promote their spiritual health and wellbeing as they may feel a deeper sense of belonging by knowing their needs are being considered.

Access – The NDIS enables individuals with disabilities to live a high quality life by being able to access education, employment or participate in community activities. This can therefore promote their social HWB because socialising with people at school or in the community can enhance their ability to develop communication skills and a strong support network.

For example:

Mental health and wellbeing is the current state of wellbeing relating to the mind. It includes levels of stress.

Develop personal skills: This action area refers to providing education to and improving the skills of participants so that they can improve their life. The “Take a step” campaign provides “practical steps” that young indigenous people can take to start to feel better. This assists people in finding ways that work for them to improve their mental health. This campaign educates indigenous youth and provides them with the skills they need to recognise signs of declining mental health and ways to get better.

Strengthen community action: This action area works to connect individuals and communities so that they can work together to achieve a common goal. In the ‘Take a step’ campaign, community based chat feature, videos and fact sheets are provided to young people and family and friends with a young person in their lives. This ensures that everyone in the community gets involved in improving the mental health of indigenous youth so that young people do not feel alone and so this is more achievable if everyone contributes to the campaign.

Peace: The absence of conflict and war is necessary as peace can relieve feelings of stress and anxiety around safety of themselves and family as a Rohingya person, so therefore is essential to improving / maintaining mental health and wellbeing.

Shelter: Shelter is essential to protect the Rohingya people from dangers within the external environment e.g. animal attacks. Attacks can result in injuries e.g. cuts that are vulnerable to infection, therefore decreasing the threat of dangers in the environment can enable them to be well enough to complete daily physical activities, therefore improving / maintaining their physical health and wellbeing.

Mass migration causes displacement in many people as they are forced to leave their home and most of their belongings. This contributes to people losing their sense of belonging and connection to the world, contributing to poorer spiritual health and wellbeing. Additionally, mass migration means that many individuals and families must live without an income as they are moving or struggling to find a new job. This increases levels of stress and anxiety within people and therefore contributes to poorer mental health and wellbeing.

Cigarettes and e-cigarettes contain carcinogens which when consumed, can cause faults in the body’s cells as they divide, which can lead to tumours. Hence increased smoking and vaping can increase the prevalence of cancer in Australia.

Cigarettes and e-cigarettes also contain harmful chemicals that lead to a build-up of plaque in the arteries, atherosclerosis, which can increase the likelihood of a heart attack. Hence, increased rates of smoking and vaping can increase mortality rates from heart attack and other cardiovascular diseases in Australia.

The social model of health, which incorporates the Ottawa Charter, involves health promotion programs such as the Quit program. The Quit program, through its free website provides tools, such as, recommending people to distract themselves with a video if they feel the urge to smoke. This example of helping individuals ‘Develop Personal Skills’ shows how the Quit program equips smokers with the skills to quit their smoking addiction, hence increasing the likelihood that they will persist and quit. This can reduce overall rates of smoking and vaping.

Individually: If smoking/vaping rates are reduced, people are more likely have better functioning of their body systems and attend work, therefore earn an income to afford a decent standard of living and necessities such as food, shelter. Therefore, acting as a resource for individuals.

Nationally: Reducing smoking/vaping rates reduces risks of associated health conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This means nationally more people can experience optimal physical health and wellbeing by being free of disease and illness. This means less hospitalisation from fatal COPD conditions, reducing the strain on the health system, allowing more funds to be diverted towards infrastructure by the government, acting as a resource nationally.