Health Policy for Aboriginal Children Respiratory Illness

Running head: HEALTH POLICY
Health Policy
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
Policies for the advocacies are different from public policies and are developed by
certain organisation. In this report we have chosen Lung foundation, Australia. The report
will be written on behalf of Lung foundation, Australia, advocating on the incidence of
respiratory illness in children of aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. The report
will give a background information about the organisation followed by the health issue
prevalent among the children. Finally the advocacy policy will be concluded by three
recommendations for the government to mitigate the occurrence of respiratory illness among
the aboriginal and the Torres Strait Islanders (Hall et al. 2016).
Respiratory illness are the major causes of poor health among the Aboriginal and the
Torres Strait Islander people and children are the most vulnerable group to respiratory
diseases (Zar and Ferkol 2014). Respiratory illness refers to a large number of lung condition
that affects the lung and its constituents.
Health issue / problem
In Australia, the health related problem among the Indigenous children are very
severe and they are more vulnerable for developing any disease while comparing with the
non-Indigenous Australians. Among the Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islander people, it is
observed that, due to the lower socio economic condition, they are facing issues related to
homelessness which is one of the reason of having lung related problem among that
population (Singleton et al., 2014). The problem of the lung related disease is common
among the children between 0-14 years.
Respiratory disease covers a wide variety of lung diseases and it is reported that,
respiratory diseases are one of the primary causes of poor health among Indigenous people in
Australia. Pneumonia has been found to be the predominant cause of most of the respiratory

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illness. Tuberculosis is another respiratory illness that is prevalent among the aboriginal
children. Tuberculosis can be related to overcrowd housing in the aboriginal communities,
leading to the spread of communicable diseases (Carrière, Garner and Sanmartin, 2017).
Therefore, it is observed that, the 1/5th of the Indigenous children were suffering from
respiratory diseases and rate of hospitalization due to respiratory problems are also very high
(Australian government, Department of Health. 2017). It was documented that, due to
asthma, upper and lower respiratory conditions, 2 times more number of Indigenous children
are affected while comparing with the non-Indigenous people (Singleton et al., 2014). In
addition to this, it is reported that, the traditional believes are also responsible for more this
higher disease rate among the Indigenous people. The higher prevalence of respiratory
disease is a cumulative effects of various factors such as socioeconomic, environmental,
genetic and demographic factors of that population. The report of Australian Government
showed that among the children, lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) is one of the major
cause of mortality around the world. In an Australian study with 180 subject population, it is
reported that, 33% of the total sample population had acute respiratory diseases and among
the total sample population 22% had a visit to the health care centre due to respiratory
problems (O’Grady et al., 2018). In another study, it was reported that 39% of subject
population (n=561) had the problem of coughing that is a symptom of respiratory disease
(O’Grady et al., 2018). The hospitalization rate was also high among the Indigenous
population while comparing with the non-Indigenous population (Chang et al., 2014).
Respiratory disease both chronic and acute is the major cause of the Islander children. This
burden is especially high on those who live in an environment of socio-economic
advantages .The life of the aboriginal people, including the children has been fragmented due
to the impact of colonisation. The traditional life of the people who used to live with well-
established laws, languages, religions, dresses, life views were severely affected. Negative

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health outcomes related to respiratory diseases among the aboriginal population are due to the
presence of inadequate housing, poor education, and employment, unequal access to the
primary care services, malnutrition, low physical activity, smoking and more (O’Grady et
al.2018). Socioeconomic status is another factor that might contribute to the growing burden
of disease. The burden of disease has further been found to be high among the people living
in the rural areas mainly in the Northern Territory, Western Australia (O’Grady et al.2018).
In a study conducted by the aboriginals and the Torres Strait Islander children has indicated
towards some of the predisposing factors for the development of respiratory illness among
the children, those are neglect by the parents, lack of family support, inadequate
communication and absence of trust upon the healthcare professionals, loss of cultural beliefs
and values, hereditary factor and poverty. Again Zar and Ferkol (2014) have stated that adult
respiratory illness can have direct negative impact on the health of the child. Children living
in households with an adult having COPD increases the chance of Pneumonia in children.
Again an adult household tuberculosis contact is an important predisposing factor for the
transmission to infants. Again, a child staying in an HIV infested household have an
increased risk of respiratory disease (Al-Yaman 2017). Children suffering from respiratory
illness faces more absenteeism, increased of other types of chronic diseases, psychological
and the economic burden due to an increased rate of hospital admission (Bell 2015).
Background
The organisation that has been chosen to develop a policy is the Lung foundation in
Australia. In Australia, the Lung Foundation Australia (LFA) is working with the lung related
problems. LFA is a government funded organization associated with securing patient
advocacy among the respiratory disease patients. LFA conducts all kind of lung related
researches to offer the maximum care to the patients of Australia. There are responsible for
developing the policies that addresses the air quality, asthma, COPD, lung cancer and tobacco