Community Health ASSIGNMENT 8 8 COMMUNITY HEALTH ASSIGNMENT Name of the Student Name

Running head: COMMUNITY HEALTH ASSIGNMENT
COMMUNITY HEALTH ASSIGNMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
Community health is considered to be a major study within clinical and medical
sciences which highly focuses and emphasizes on maintenance, improvement and protection
of health status of the population communities and groups (Boeing et al, 2014). Working at
community levels in order to promote healthy living is highly important as it helps in
preventing chronic diseases and also helps in bringing great health benefits to majority
number of people who are in need. However, it has been seen various people especially the
young adults who fall in the age gap of 12-18 years face a lot of health issues which is
detrimental for their overall help and thus it is important to assess the health issues and the
determinants of these health on the young adults. This paper will focus on the young adult
group ranging between 12 to 18 years who live in Bunbury which is located in Western
Australia and help in describing factors that will help in identifying health issues among the
young adults.
Demographic
Bunbury is one of the largest towns in Western Australia and according to reports; it
currently has a population about 80,000 people (Abs.gov.au., 2019). It has been that there are
many young adults who belong from this town and it has been seen that the young adults that
range between 12 to 18 years of age in recent times are seen to be prone to various diseases.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, it has been seen that the number of
obese or overweight young adults in Australia had hit around 1 million in the year 2017 and
2018 (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare., 2019). Reports suggest about 46 percent of
the young adults were aged between 18 to 24 years (McCauley, 2019).

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Reports suggest that in the year 2015, the children in the South West region were said
to be developmentally vulnerable in more than one domain. About 32 percent of the children
in Bunbury were developmentally vulnerable (Wacountry.health.wa.gov.au., 2018).
According to scholars, developmentally vulnerable means when a child falls in the category
of lowest 10 percent in one of the five categories which are behaviour, communication,
language, emotions and physical health (Wacountry.health.wa.gov.au., 2018).
In the period between the years 2011 and 2015, it has been reported that the rate of the
Potentially Preventable Hospitalizations in the South West children were moderate to high.
Around 43 percent of children and adolescents faced issues due to dental conditions, 19
percent of the children and adolescents had ear, nose and throat infections
(Wacountry.health.wa.gov.au., 2018).
However, it has been seen that the young adults had been diagnosed with mental
health issues as well, About 14 per cent of the young adults, 17 percent among the females
and 11 percent among the males reported that they have been diagnosed with mental health
issues. Aboriginal residents who aged between 15 years to 64 years have also faced
challenges due to mental health issues like depression and anxiety
(Wacountry.health.wa.gov.au., 2018). However, the shocking and most heartbreaking thing
which the report presented by the government also suggests is that suicide, between the years
2011 and 2015 has been the leading cause of death among the young adults
(Wacountry.health.wa.gov.au., 2018).
Bunbury is one of the major towns and it can be seen that the town highly focuses on
health and ensures that the environment of the town is clean and healthy so that it does not
create any risk of chronic diseases for the people living in the town. According to reports, the
environmental health of the city monitors various ranges of activities which can potentially

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impact the health and the living standards of the community. Thus, the Environmental Health
Services team helps in developing and implementing programs in various areas like
accommodation, environment, swimming pools and aquatic facilities, mosquito management
and waste management and many more in order to uplift the quality of the standard of living.
It can be seen that there are very few young adults who have been facing health issues which
is related to the environment as the city highly emphasizes on diseases spread due to the
environment however, it can be seen that majority of the young adults have been facing
mental health issues which is detrimental as this has contributed to the rise in suicide rates
among young adults in Bunbury as well as in the entire Western Australia.
Health issues
From the epidemiological data, it can be seen that majority of the adolescents in
Bunbury have been suffering from mental illness both aboriginal as well as non-aboriginal
adolescents. Mental health issues are considered to be a problem or an issue which
significantly affects the way of thinking of a person, the way one interacts and behaves with
other people. Every 1 in 5 people in Australia are considered to be suffering from mental
illness or issues at some point in their lives (McCauley, 2019). However, there are other
grave health challenges which the young adults are facing in terms of their health which is
obesity which is highly detrimental as it can lead to other severe diseases which can possess
risk. The most common health issues faced by the young adults in Bunbury are the following:
Obesity
Obesity is one of the huge issues that is faced by the young adults in recent times.
There is a rise in obesity in Bunbury among the young adults which can be detrimental for
the health of the young adults in the long run. According to scholars, obesity related effects
range widely and has the potential to cause serious damage to the children as well as the