Answer To: ASSESSMENT BRIEF Subject Code and Title PUBH6006: Community Health and Disease Prevention Assessment...
Taruna answered on Oct 15 2021
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Healthcare Sustainability Program Development for Malnutrition in Aboriginal Community
Introduction
The success of healthcare based interventions can be ensured by evaluating the reach of the healthcare policies and programs effectively in the targeted community. In fact, there are several determinants which affect the overall efficacy of healthcare programs designed for a particular community to alleviate their healthcare norms. These may range from cultural biases, strict conventional approaches to modern healthcare system as well as internal governance of the community that does not ‘let in’ proper changes (Lee & Ride, 2018; Gwyn et al; 2019, Wise, 2013). Also, at times, there are gaps in services which leave some loopholes as major obstacles to achieve desired outcomes. In the context of Aboriginal community, the sustainability of malnutrition is one of such issues which affect the community from within. Malnutrition becomes the main source of other health issues like weak development of children, absence of healthy diet patterns for pregnant ladies as well as overall assessment of the community health.
Context: Community and Health
In Australia, inequalities between the health of indigenous and non-indigenous communities continue to be widespread. Research suggests that Indigenous people participate more often than their non-Indigenous counterparts in health risk behavior, and that such behavior has a significant impact on health outcomes (Lee & Ride, 2018; Gwyn et al; 2019, Wise, 2013). While this may suggest that reducing health risk behavior may have positive effects on health outcomes, the factors that affect Indigenous health behavior are still poorly understood. There are also several intervention and support services that have recently been initiated to alleviate the lives of Aboriginal people, but attempts made by these initiatives and the operation of support program tend to be inadequate because there is a distance between the proper scope of the support program to the Aboriginal communities; there is a missing link and it needs to be identified (Gwyn et al, 2019).
Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders appear to suffer from the worst health of all population groups in Australia, with a high incidence of sickness and low life expectancy. Published in 2013, the latest available life expectancy estimates indicate that the disparity between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and non-Indigenous Australians remains high at 10.6 years for males and 9.5 years for females (Lee & Ride, 2018; Gwyn et al, 2019; Wise, 2013). A relatively high percentage of deaths among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are premature; about 81 percent of deaths among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders occurred before the age of 75 years over the five-year period 2009-2013, compared to 34 percent of deaths for non-Indigenous people.
These stats can be effectively reduced by managing the problem of malnutrition; the only requirement that seems plausible here is to provide a link between awareness and their conventional lives. Because of their potential expertise to provide education about the disparities between malnutrition and how it can be reduced by taking certain steps, nursing professionals can effectively provide that link (Wise 2013). The strategic level of policies and intervention programs is needed in this context to deal with the problem effectively. Malnutrition has several dimensions, as per the research studies conducted and it can have negative impacts in the long course of healthcare alleviation programs, if it is not addressed at the root level (Gwyn et al, 2019).
One more noteworthy factor here can be related to the conventional approach of Aboriginal people towards malnutrition and child care. Variables that are closely related to malnutrition are guided by Aboriginal people (Lee & Ride, 2018; Gwyn et al; 2019, Wise, 2013). Increased deaths related to childbirth and increased mortality rates have shown over the past few years that malnutrition is one of the major...