Analysis of the NSW Refugee Health Plan

Running head: POLICY ANALYSIS 1
Analysis of the NSW Refugee Health Plan
Name
Institution

POLICY ANALYSIS 2
Analysis of the NSW Refugee Health Plan
Introduction
The NSW Refugee Health Plan is a policy-framework that the state government of New
South Wales (NSW) came up with to help in addressing the health issues of the refugees as well
as other people who have undergone refugee-like experiences at one point in their life. The plan
was to be implemented between the year 20011 and 2016. According to the state government of
NSW, the state has been receiving a large number of refugees. As a country, Australia has been
receiving so many refugees who leave their mother land and relocate into the country because of
war, political, or religious conflicts that cause instability and compel them to seek for refuge.
There are also other people who come into the country as asylums-seekers because it provides a
safe place that can accommodate them. However, when such refugees come into the country, a
large number of them are deployed to NSW state (Mahimbo, Seale & Heywood, 2017). That is
why the state government of NSW decided to come up with this plan. The purpose why this
paper is to analyze this policy because it was a brilliant idea that the government had come up
because it would help in providing a long-term solution to healthcare challenges faced by the
refugees who come to the state whenever the circumstances force them to flee from their
respective countries of origin (Ross, Harding, Seal & Duncan, 2016). The idea of providing safe
and quality care to be commendable because it not only addresses the needs of the refugees and
asylum-seekers, but also strives towards the realization of health equality and equity in the state
and Australia at large.
The government decided to implement this policy because it was aimed at addressing the
health needs of the refugees that immigrate into the country. According to official records, the
refugees that come into the state often have poor state of health. When it comes to the matters of

POLICY ANALYSIS 3
health, the refugees are worse-off as compared to the rest of the Australian citizens and residents.
There are many reasons why the refugees are lagging behind when it comes to matters of health.
Their social, economic, behavioral, and environment al determinants expose them to a wide
range of health issues. Among the most significant factors that influence the health of the NSW-
based refugees include cultural diversity (Botfield, Newman & Zwi, 2016). These people face
cultural difficulties because they come from a cultural background that is quite different from
that in Australia. Meaning, for them to receive quality care that satisfies their needs, they must
have a special attention be given an opportunity to benefit from a culturally-competent care.
Besides, these people have been exposed to lots of psychological trauma. Therefore, to meet
their needs, they must have a well-organized team of practitioners who can attend to their unique
situation and address it as expected (Chaves, Paxton, Biggs, Thambiran, Gardiner, Williams &
Davis, 2017). Last, but not least, the refugees must be given a social consideration because their
status makes it challenging for them to access healthcare services in the country. Meaning, it can
be much better is there is a special program designed for them.
After classifying the refugees as a group that requires special attention, the state
government of NSW came up with this plan because it would play a significant role in
addressing the health needs of the newly-arrived refugees as well as their counterparts who have
been in the country for up to five years. The government acknowledged that these refugees must
be helped because if not empowered, there would be wide health disparities between them and
the rest of the Australian population. Therefore, to achieve, this objective, the government set
some goals that it was looking forward to accomplishing (Murray & Skull, 2005). These
included the goals to do with the provision of immunization services, delivery of mental health
services, reproductive health services, oral health services, nutritional health services, and

POLICY ANALYSIS 4
preventive health services. These are the services that had been identified because they had to be
regarded as priority areas that had to be addressed if the government was really concerned about
the improvement of the health status of the refugees (Guajardo, Slewa-Younan, Kitchener,
Mannan, Mohammad & Jorm, 2018). Nevertheless, to achieve all these, the government chose to
apply a few models that were deemed appropriate for the addressing the needs of the refugees.
The models included the commitments to the principles of social justice, gender equity, and
human rights. Each of these principles was of great contribution towards the implementation of
the plan. The government had demonstrated its commitments towards the elimination of any
disparities in the health of the refugees because, despite their poor state, they had to be granted
full rights to quality and safe medical care just like the rest of the Australian population.
Policy Analysis
The NSW Refugee Health Plan is a policy framework that the state government of SSW
had come up with because it would help in addressing the health needs of the refugees and
asylum-seekers in the state. For a very long time, the NSW state has been receiving a large
portion of the refugees and asylum-seekers from different parts of the world. However, whenever
they come into the country, these already disadvantaged immigrants find it quite challenging to
fit into the country because they have a myriad of physical, mental, and psychological health
problems that need an immediate redress (Riggs, Gibbs, Kilpatrick, Gussy, van Gemert, Ali &
Waters, 2015). However, this might not happen because the poor status of these people in the
Australian society deprives them of an opportunity to get access to healthcare services just like
the rest of the people. In this regard, the state government felt that it was the right time to come
up with this policy because it would help in providing an ultimate solution to this crisis. This