In-Depth Policy Analysis: Australia's National Male Health Policy

This report provides a detailed analysis of Australia's National Male Health Policy, established in 2010 to improve the health outcomes of males. It examines the policy's framework, including its relevance to current health issues, strategies for preventive health, and efforts to reduce healthcare disparities. The analysis covers the policy's impact on the community, cost-effectiveness, media reception, and constitutional framework. It also addresses challenges such as health inequalities, high mortality rates, and limited access to healthcare, particularly for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males. The report further discusses the importance of equity in health provision, safety in healthcare services, and accessibility to healthcare facilities, emphasizing the need for policy adjustments to ensure equal health services for all males in Australia. It concludes by highlighting key decision parameters like timeframe, priorities, and resources essential for effective policy implementation and development.

Name
[COMPANY NAME] [Company address]
[DOCUMENT TITLE]

Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................2
Policy analysis:................................................................................................................................3
Policy Framework:...........................................................................................................................4
Decision parameters.........................................................................................................................6
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................6
References:......................................................................................................................................8
1

Introduction:
National Male Health Policy was established in 2010 after the Australian Government made
commitment in 2007 to improve the health conditions of males in Australia. This policy focuses
on enhancing health outcomes of male by preventing several health challenges faced by
Australian males like barriers in assessing healthcare facilities, lack of awareness, poor use of
health resources by creating various health programs. The aim of this plan after its
implementation is to provide good health to male which increases their life expectancy, brings
joyful family life.
Generally Australian males have longer life expectancy than and enjoys good health than men in
many other countries. Yet males in Australia have shorter life span especially non-indigenous
Australian males like Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men when compared to females in
Australia. According to the data provided on June 30th 2016 by AIHW i.e. Australian Institute of
Health and Welfare, there are approximately 12million males in Australia which is 49.7% of
Australian population. This data shows that there were 98.8 men for 100 females. About 68%
males were younger than 50 years and 14% were aged 65 and over i.e. their median age is 36.5
years only that is lower than females median age which is 38.3 years (The health of Australia’s
males, 2017).
2

It provides a framework to enhance the health of male across Australia focusing on to take action
on multiple fronts. It starts with the discussion process in which it discusses male health
problems and public consultation is performed in its development, displays 6 priority areas for
action. it then concludes by providing 9 supporting documents which provides depth analysis of
men health problems.
According to the present context the National Male Health Policy is relevant as it addresses the
various health issues faced by Australian males.
This policy aims to obtain optimal health status for males. It implements several strategies in
order to deal with the health problems faced by Australian male. It also helps government to
deliver high quality health services to all gender. It restores the value of men in the community
and family (National Male Health Policy, 2010). It promotes health equity and quality health
services to vulnerable males from indigenous communities.
It also focuses on preventive health for Australian male. It establishes and deliver preventive
health services and initiatives acknowledging the requirements of males from different
community or group in Australia who are at high risk of health-related issues. This helps to
reduce economic burden or challenges from people with low income or low socio-economic
status. This policy also involves strategies to improve health care services for employees to
enhance their health outcomes (Hill, 2008). It decreases and monitors environmental toxins and
workplaces hazards by decreasing key problems causing stress and economic strains. It
encourages companies to provide health program and checkups, funds for health promotion
materials, raise awareness on common chronic diseases among males.
It is the constitution which commissions the government to introduce policies which regulates
service provisions. As per the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2008), there should not
be any discrimination in healthcare on the basis of ethnicity or gender. However, the policy
prioritizes the rights of Australian male despite several attempts to uphold women rights
(Collins, McLachlan, & Holden, 2011). Although the right of male has been breached due to the
inequalities in healthcare services provision, limited access to health care services and
vulnerability to poor health care issues. Thus, the National Male Health Policy have
constitutional advantages in contrast to the problems faced by Australian male.
3

As per the promises made before lection, the policy covers all the points for improving
healthcare experiences for the Australian male. One of the key strategy that the government used
to transform healthcare system was providing good health care to the Aboriginal and Torres
Islander males. Also, the National longitudinal study uses the data on male health to improve the
health of Australian males (National Male Health Policy, 2014). The political objective of the
government is to find lasting solution to challenges affecting men. In addition, the introduction
of male health policy serves as the political objective for the Australian government.
The reason behind choosing this policy is the poor health outcomes in male and health disparity
between male and female population (Gardner & Barraclough, 2008). According to the 2016
data provided by AIHW, males generally experience poorer and often different health outcomes
than females. Their health status varies according to population characteristics such as
socioeconomic disadvantages, age, remoteness, indigenous status. Similarly, 86% of aged people
are suffering from some kind of chronic illness.
In summary, this policy is established to improve the health condition of Australian males. It is
based on the foundation to create healthcare awareness among males and reduces healthcare
discrimination or inequality (McLalchlan, 2007). The main goals of the National Male Health
Policy are to achieve: optimum health outcomes for males, emphasis on preventive male health;
easily health accessibility for males; health equity between males from several groups or
community and different life stages; establishing a solid evidence base on health of male. This
policy is also relevant to present health care system as it involves political, economic, social,
cultural and legal aspects of male population in Australia.
Policy analysis:
In order to overcome the challenges faced by Australian male, National male Health Policy was
developed. The health care of Australia involves many problems which needs improvement these
problems are health inequalities, high mortality rate, poor health outcomes and limited access to
healthcare (Baker & Shand, 2017). As per research the Australian male has higher mortality rate
in comparison to female counter part. Further, the high mortality is followed by low life
expectancy of 78.7 years to 83.7 years for females. The reason for the difference in the mortality
4

rate is due to disparities found in the Australian healthcare system. Additionally, alarming use of
drugs among the youth is another reason responsible for their poor health. This gave rise to the
introduction of policy which can make Australian male aware about the important of practicing
good health.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males of Australia are not able to use the healthcare
services due to the less or minimum availability of healthcare. There are very few male
healthcare centers which can provide clinical facilities to all the males in Australia. The
condition is worse among the aboriginal males.
The life expectancy of males in 78.7 which is one of the highest in the world but its lower in
comparison to females. The reason for the difference in the life expectancy between male and
female is due to the disparities or inequalities in the healthcare system in the healthcare sector
(Ward & White, 2010). The females in Australia were first to get preference for the healthcare
services and to overcome this Australian government were ready to come up with some
resolution which could minimize this inequality.
The Australian male poor health condition is characterized by smoking, obesity, drug abuse and
lack of physical activity leading to poor health conditions. The poor health conditions are the
result of poor health outcomes. For example: the aboriginal people do not have access to proper
healthcare services which results in poor health outcomes.
Policy Framework:
There is a requirement of proper framework in order to tackle the existing problems of
Australian health care services. The constituents of framework re community impact, expected
media reception, effectiveness and constitutional framework.
Impact on Community
Some of the challenges of the community mentioned in the policy that can affects adoption and
families meaning the community reaction is positive. The dignity of Australian male has been
eroding away since a long time and has been completely replaced by the contemporary culture
which limits the Australian male status in the society (Seymour, 2018). The objective of National
5

Male Heath Policy is to restore the interest, respect and quality life of male population. Hence it
can be said that policy consisting of social framework, directly impacts the community.
Cost effectiveness
As per cost analysis, it indicates that the government invested on the National Male Health
Policy to improve the health of Australian male (WHO priorities, 2018). Although the Australia
male pays higher price for the services offered at the clinics, the policy still remains
economically effective. There was allocation of funds by the government in order to implement
the policy as a strategy for improving healthcare services.
The reaction of the media.
The media recovered the policy through experts after the successful launch of National Male
health policy the different experts has different views on the political impact of policy in the
society. Additionally, there were several politicians invited through various talk shows in order
to give their opinion on national male health policy. Although there were positive reviews from
the media but the online uses described the policy as male oriented and gender bias. Afterwards,
the media pointed out some of the shortcomings of the policy which needed improvement
especially the implementation.
Constitutional Framework:
Government develops and implements policies according to constitutional mandate in order to
regulate the health sector. The legal advisors also share their legal view on the National Male
Healthy policy and its relevancy to the healthcare services in Australia. It’s the constitution
which provides the legal frame for the conceptualization of healthcare policies (Ring & O’Brien,
2007). This is the reason why the government engages all the legal think tank for analyzing the
impact of formulating a health policy.
Analysis of the recent literature:
There are several benchmarks and objectives that has to be met in order to achieve good health
policy. There are some objectives of good health policy like equity health provision, optimal
health outcomes, safety healthcare services, assessible health care services and injury prevention.
6

Equity health provision as per National preventative health taskforce is primary objective of
healthcare policy. As per the outcome of the research on health provision, death of male was
more in number as compared to the number of females. Similarly, according to Australian
institute of health and Welfare, the potential years of life lost is higher in male as compared to
females due to diseases which could have been avoided (Richardson, 2011). The Australian
Institute of Health and Welfare suggested that the policy options need to be changed so that it is
equal in terms of health services to both male and female as male has suffered due to
inequalities.
The safety health care services are considered to be one of the essential heath priority of
government in Australia as well as in other parts of the world. All the patients who get admitted
in the hospital throughout the country are normally safer which may have occurred in health care
facilities. As per one of the research, men are most vulnerable to injuries because they are
considered to be more tolerable to difficult conditions a female patient gets ore attention in
health care centers in comparison to males who get low attention. This marginalization demands
the transformation in the policy in order to improve health safety among male patients.
It is evident that all the Australians are entitled to use all healthcare facilities. As per one of the
research males of Australia were not able to access the healthcare facilities and condition was
worse in case of aboriginal male than any other group (Holden, 2012). The worse condition of
these group of people are characterized by inaccessible health services prompted the government
to take steps for lasting solution. The Australian government always plans to achieve accessible
health care. It is mandatory for healthcare to develop the policy in such a way that it ensure
accessible health care services to every males of Australia.
Decision parameters
There are some parameters which comes into account during the implementation and
development of policy. These parameters are timeframe, priorities and resources.
It is very essential to have resources before making any decision related to policy development
and implementation. These resources include financial resource, human resource, political and
legal back up. The health practitioners, doctors, nurses, etc. are included under human resources
(National Male Health Policy, 2014). Additionally, there should be ideal political condition for
7

the development and proper implementation of policy. There is also the role of government
officials in decision making related to policy development. Similarly, the legal back up is equally
important as it sets the environment for the regulation of activities of the health system. Lastly,
the importance of financial resources can’t be ignored before the development of any policy.
The important priorities needed for the development of health policy are equity health services,
need of Australian male, improved health among different age groups and accessibility of
facilities to every group of population. Firstly, the basis of policy development starts with under
primary issue i.e. understanding the Australian male (Men’s health report highlights what’s
missing from policy, 2012). The Australian male faces several issues which has to be addressed
for the proper development and implementation of policy. Secondly, there should be equity in
health provision in order to avoid the male marginalization. Thirdly, as per the report by WHO
on the social determinants of health and awareness programs along with campaigns for
improving the health and life style of Australian male mostly characterized by obesity, drug
addiction and lack of physical activity
Recommendation:
The alternatives solution to the issues faced by Australian male are counselling, health education
and health insurance (Smith, 2007). There is a demand of education programs on health care in
order to educate the males on the various aspect related to health care. The topics like healthy
eating, physical activity, dealing with stress, low consumption of alcohol and sound sleep should
also be included in the education programs. The government should provide initiatives and
training programs for males so that they come to visit the health care centres where they can
learn healthy habits and life style (Baker, 2015). As per one of the study, the habit of practising
healthy habits helps in lowering the risk associated with mental strain and also reduces the stress.
The practice of living healthy life also helps in reducing the risk of cancer as they can be trained
on avoiding harmful products and eating healthy foods which helps in reducing cancer. Lastly,
educating the males also helps them in developing and applying preventive approach like regular
health check-ups and assessment on life threatening diseases like cancer, aids, etc. The policy
development bases on counselling is another way of helping the Australian male. In order to
implement this, the concerned department need to build a structure which includes counselling as
one of the most vital solution for evaluating challenges experienced by male in health care
8

system. As per the studies, it has been found that counselling helps in reducing the stress by
40%. The investment in health insurance is also one of the way in securing quality health
services for the employed people. The government should come up with plans of promoting
health insurance so that it can compel people to think working with health care systems so that
male employees have insurance securing their life.
Conclusion:
From the above paper it is evident that the male member of Australia is facing disparities,
inequalities in comparison to females. Due to poor accessibility of healthcare services in male,
there has been several issues like high mortality rate, poor health care outcomes, inequality in
healthcare provision and poor health. The aboriginals are the most marginalized whose health
conditions are deteriorating because of less and no health accessibility of healthcare services in
comparison to other Australians. The majority of male attending the healthcare facilities
experience that the health service outcomes are not pleasing and satisfactory in comparison to the
females. These poor health of male leads to other critical issues like high mortality rate. The
mortality rate in male is higher in comparison to female. Similarly, the male member has been
facing inequality in healthcare as much attention was given to female counterpart. Additionally,
the other factors like obesity, alcohol addiction, smoking further contributes in deterioration of
ales in Australia.
The National Male Health policy has provided framework for accessible health services, optimal
health outcomes, preventive approach, equity health provision and health awareness in order to
solve above issues affecting the Australian males. The objective of this policy is to seek quality
and optimum health outcomes in comparison to previous outcomes. The policy focused on the
strategies which would create accessible healthcare services for males. In order to fulfill the
mandate of constitution the policy highlighted necessary steps in order to provide equity health
services. The policy also focused on the preventive measure and approaches to prevent the
problems from occurring. Lastly the policy also shared its light on the health awareness program
and campaigns among the Australian males.
The analysis of the policy gave the solution by making changes in order to ensure effective
implementation of policy. It also addresses the health insurance, counselling and education of
males the analysis concluded the male education is one of the important factor to solve the
9

problems affecting Australian males. The several studies also suggested that educating male on
the healthy living is also significant for the smooth implementation of National Male Health
policy. The insurance of the male is also a solution to encounter health challenges existing in the
system. The health insurance link health care facilities and the workplace which ensures quality
health care service for the employed section of males. Finally, the counselling is till considered a
tool in crating health awareness and reducing stress that affect the health of the person.
References:
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2008), Australia’s Health, 2008 cat. no. AUS 99,
AIHW, Canberra
Baker, P. (2015, December). National men’s health policies. Retrieved from Men's Health:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/tre.493
Baker, P., & Shand, T. (2017). Men’s health: time for a new approach to policy and practice?
Journal of Global Health, 7(1), 010306. http://doi.org/10.7189/jogh.07.010306.
Bridgman, P. & Davis, G. (2000). The Australian Policy Handbook (2nd ed). St Leonard, NSW:
Allen & Unwin
Collins, V. R., McLachlan, R. I., & Holden, C. A. (2011). Tackling inequities in men’s health: a
reflective lens on the National Male Health Policy. The Medical Journal of Australia,
194(2), 62-64.
Gardner, H. & Barraclough, S. (2008), Health policy as process. In S. Barraclough & H. Gardner
(eds). Analyzing health policy: A problem-oriented approach, (pp. 15-38). Mauriceville,
NSW: Elsevier.
Holden, C. (2012). Network structures and their relevance to the policy cycle: A case study of
The National Male Health Policy of Australia. Social Science & Medicine, 74(2), 228-
235.
10

Hill, S. (2008), Improving health literacy: What should – or could – be on an Australian policy
agenda? Presentation to Department of Health and Ageing On behalf of the Cochrane Policy
Liaison Network
McLalchlan, R. (2007). The Healthy Male. Newsletter of Andrology Australia, 24,
MacEachern R, Lawton R, Jackson C, Connor M & Lunt J (2008) ‘Evidence, theory and context:
Using intervention mapping to develop a worksite physical activity intervention’, BMC
Public Health, 8:326
Men’s health report highlights what’s missing from policy. (2012, June 16). Retrieved from The
Converstaion.: https://theconversation.com/mens-health-report-highlights-whats-missing-
from-policy-7687
Misan, G. (2013). Male Health and Male Health Policy. NEW MALE STUDIES: AN
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, 2(3), 104-119. Retrieved from
www.newmalestudies.com/OJS/index.php/nms/article/download/91/94
National Male Health Policy. (2010, May). Retrieved from Department of Health and Ageing:
https://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/7935AC78159969D4CA
257BF0001C6B07/$File/MainDocument.pdf
National Male Health Policy. (2014, June 30). Retrieved from The Department of Health:
http://www.health.gov.au/malehealthpolicy
Richardson, N. (2011). National men’s health policies in Ireland and Australia: What are the
challenges associated with transitioning from development to implementation? Public
Health, 125(7), 424-432.
Ring IT & O’Brien JF (2007), Our hearts and minds –what would it take for Australia to become
the healthiest country in the world? Medical Journal of Australia, 187(8), pp.860-865
Seymour, K. (2018). “Respect for each gender”: Gender, equity and backlash in Australia's male
health policy. The Australian journal of social issues, 53(2), 123-138.
Smith, J. A. (2007). Addressing men's health policy concerns in Australia: what can be done?
Australia and New Zealand Health Policy., 4, 20-23.
11