Closing the Gap Policy | Assignment

Running head: CLOSING THE GAP POLICY
CLOSING THE GAP POLICY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Introduction:
Closing the Gap is a policy of the government that is developed for the progress of the
aboriginals and the Torres islander people. It aims at promoting the life expectancy of the
native people and their children , educational achievements, early childhood development and
education, child mortality and opportunities of employment for the aboriginals and the
Torres strait islanders. According to a study, Closing the Gap was formulated as a result of
the commitment of all Australian government to achieve equal health, education and
employment opportunities for the indigenous and the Torres Strait islander population within
a time span of 25 years (Holland 2014) . According to a study, the Torres Strait Islander and
the aboriginal signed the Indigenous Health Equality Summit Statement of Intent in which
they agree to cooperate and work together for achieving equality for them (Graham,
Broersma and Hazelhoff 2013).
Targets of closing the gap
There are many targets of Closing the Gap related to achieving equality and
wellbeing of the aboriginals and the Torres strait islander like. According to a study, the main
targets closing the gap are; closing the gap in life expectancy by the year 2031, closing the
gap in child mortality, have the gap that has been developed in employment, promoting early
childhood education for the aboriginals by ensuring that 95% of the native children go to
school by 2025 (Altman 2018). In the case of Judy, Closing the Gap should target that they
promote her health and take care of her ulcer in the leg which has been worsened because of
the type 2 diabetes that she is suffering from. Since, she has left the job because of her
mobility issue she can be helped by providing her with appropriate job that would suit her, as
one the targets of Closing the Gap also includes closing the gap in the employment.

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Challenges and benefits:
There are reasons why the government had to come up with a policy like closing the
gap. One of the major reasons was that right from the time of colonization the natives have
been marginalized which has created a huge gap in the society between the natives and the
mainstream society. Closing the Gap promotes equality in the society for the aboriginals and
the Torres Strait islander population in all the domains especially the health, education and
employment. The native population live far from the industrial areas in the interior of country
which does not allow them to make use of the governmental facilities that have been provide
for them. In the case of Judy, she lives 10 kilometers away from the nearest medical facilities
which make it impossible for her to travel to the hospital to access the services. The ulcer
which has developed in her leg also makes it very difficult for her to travel from her place to
reach the medical facility. According to study, the closing the gap policy aims to increase the
life expectancy of the native population (Browne, Hayes and Gleeson 2014). If Judy would
not have been enrolled under closing the gap policy, her life expectancy would have been
reduced. According to a study, if the wounds of the diabetic patients are not taken proper care
of, it can develop an infection that can spread to tissues and even bones of the body (Qi et al.
2015). According to another report, it has been stated that if the wounds of diabetic patients
do not receive emergency care then it can develop into a life threatening situation and can
even be fatal at times (Wong et al. 2015)
According to a study, factors such as low income, low educational attainment, poor
living conditions, and employment insecurity have a very significant the effect on the health
of a person. Another study says that, the aboriginals and the Torres Strait islander suffer from
diabetes type 1 and diabetes type 2 more than the non-native population in Australia
(Rosenstock et all., 2013). The two studies highlight that the certain social determinants are
surely responsible for the development of such health related threats. The three social

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determinants that should be addressed in case of Judy is the low income, employment
insecurity or no income at all and living in poor conditions. Registration of Judy under
closing the gap policy will benefit her since she will get access to medical facilities in her
home. This will be beneficial for her since she has low income, living on her own she will be
able to save on her limited sources. After she gets cured with the help of the medical facilities
provided by closing the gap policy; she can also join any service and this will help improve
her living condition and make her financially self-sufficient.
Help from closing the gap policy:
Judy is an aboriginal widowed women who has left her job because the mobility
issues. She has lives on her won at a distance of 10 kilometers from the nearest accessible
medical facility. According to a report, closing the gap was developed by the government so
that the indigenous or the Torres strait islander living in the interior of places and facing
lower life expectancy can have equal access to medical facilities (Campbell et al. 2014).
Closing the gap has ties with various medical institutions so that they can attend to the
medical issues of the native people who can not travel long distance for seeking medical
facilities. Judy is a perfect candidate to be registered under the Australian governmental
policy such as closing the gap. The mentioned factors make an appropriate candidate to be
under the policy, closing the gap. According to a report, it has been found that closing the gap
has been of great help for the native people to get equal access to different aspects of life so
that they can go upward in the ladder of success (Cashman et al. 2014).
According to a study, the aboriginal medial services (AMS) is an organization that
started as early as the 1971 and went on to become the first community that was controlled by
the aboriginal or the native people of Australia (Rosenstock et all., 2013). Aboriginal medical
services have been successfully helping the native people in getting access to the medical
services from a very long time. The role of the aboriginal medical services also known as the

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AMS, is to provide proper medical serves to the aboriginal people. In the case of Judy, the
role of aboriginal medical services has been to diagnose and provide proper care to the judy’s
medical concerns. It was the Aboriginal Liaison Officer also called ALO who proposed that
Judy should be provided with a local nurse who will do house visits for the purpose of taking
care of the ulcer Judy has developed in her leg. The aboriginal medical services (AMS) and
the Aboriginal Liaison Officer also called ALO played a significant role in the registration of
Judy under the governmental policy of closing the gap. During the process of discharge of
Judy from the hospital, the discharge letter said she is eligible for taking the services under
the closing the gap policy. It was the combined effort from both the aboriginal medical
services as well as the Aboriginal Liaison Officer ( ALO) by which she could get access to a
nurse who would come to her house for dressing her ulcer in the leg. They also helped her in
registering into closing the gap policy. The reason behind why the aboriginal medical
services referred Judy to a mainstream health service for daily dressings is because she had
type 2 diabetes and wounds take time to heal when the patient has diabetes. According to a
study, wounds have a tendency to get infected when the patient is suffering from type 2
diabetes (Rosenstock et all., 2013). Therefore Judy needed daily dressing of her wound so
that the wound does not get infected. This daily dressing could have been done only by daily
visits from a local nurse. Since, the aboriginal medical services could not help in this regard,
they got Judy registered under the Australian government policy that is closing the Gap.
Conclusion:
Closing the gap was developed as a strategy by the government so that the
marginalized group of the society such as the Torres Strait islander and the indigenous could
get equal opportunities to get health and educational services. It has been found that the
Torres Strait islander and indigenous population of Australia are lagging behind from the

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mainstream society in aspects such as health, employment, education and such other aspects.
To solve all of these concerns the government adopted the strategy called closing the gap
which aimed at the welfare and wellbeing of the native people of Australia. It helped to
eliminate the disadvantages related to the development and progress of the native population
of the country. The policies that the government adopts and implement has a significant
effect on the lives of people for which the policies have been made. In this case, Judy has
been significantly helped by the aboriginal medical services and the Aboriginal Liaison
Officer ( ALO) has helped to get registration under the closing the gap policy. Judy has also
been helped as she is given a local nurse for her ulcer in the leg and the diabetes.

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References:
Altman, J., 2018. Beyond closing the gap: Valuing diversity in Indigenous Australia.
Canberra, ACT: Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR), The Australian
National University.
Browne, J., Hayes, R. and Gleeson, D., 2014. Aboriginal health policy: is nutrition the
‘gap’in ‘Closing the Gap’?. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 38(4),
pp.362-369.
Campbell, M.A., Finlay, S., Lucas, K., Neal, N. and Williams, R., 2014. Kick the habit: a
social marketing campaign by Aboriginal communities in NSW. Australian Journal of
Primary Health, 20(4), pp.327-333.
Cashman, P.M., Allan, N.A., Clark, K.K., Butler, M.T., Massey, P.D. and Durrheim, D.N.,
2016. Closing the gap in Australian Aboriginal infant immunisation rates--the development
and review of a pre-call strategy. BMC public health, 16(1), p.514.
Graham, T., Broersma, M. and Hazelhoff, K., 2013. Closing the gap? Twitter as an
instrument for connected representation.
Holland, C., 2014. Close the Gap: progress and priorities report 2014.
Qi, W., Yang, C., Dai, Z., Che, D., Feng, J., Mao, Y., Cheng, R., Wang, Z., He, X., Zhou, T.
and Gu, X., 2015. High Levels of Pigment Epithelium–Derived Factor in Diabetes Impair
Wound Healing Through Suppression of Wnt Signaling. Diabetes, 64(4), pp.1407-1419.
Rosenstock, A., Mukandi, B., Zwi, A.B. and Hill, P.S., 2013. Closing the Gaps: competing
estimates of Indigenous Australian life expectancy in the scientific literature. Australian and
New Zealand journal of public health, 37(4), pp.356-364.

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Wong, S.L., Demers, M., Martinod, K., Gallant, M., Wang, Y., Goldfine, A.B., Kahn, C.R.
and Wagner, D.D., 2015. Diabetes primes neutrophils to undergo NETosis, which impairs
wound healing. Nature medicine, 21(7), p.815.