NUR121 health, Culture and Society Task 3: Workbook 40%.

NUR121 health, Culture and Society Task 3: Workbook 40%
Name the health issue: Bowel cancer
1. Why is the issue a priority for the Australian healthcare industry? (100
words)
Cancer is among the five priority areas that the Australian healthcare
system targets as it focuses on the health of Australians. Cancer is
preventable (by maintaining a healthy lifestyle like avoiding alcohol) and
treatable as well. Cancer is currently placing the largest and growing
burden on patients, families and the Australian healthcare system at
large. Cancer has a prevalence of over 100 000 new cases registered
every year in Australia. Because of the burden posed by cancer on the
Australian community it was announced as a National Health Priority Area
NHPA in 1996. NHPA focuses on 8 priority cancers and colorectal cancer
or bowel cancer is among them.
References; (Duckett & Willcox, 2015; Pettigrew et al., 2014, p. 786;
Jensen, 2018, pp.27-46);
Haigh, M., Burns, J., Potter, C., Elwell, M., Hollows, M., Mundy, J., Taylor, E.
and Thompson, S., 2018. Review of cancer among Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander people.
Australian Indigenous HealthBulletin,
18(3).
2. Describe the health promotion program and discuss the key features
that are used to address the health issue? (400 words).
Health promotion program aim at empowering and promoting individuals
and community in choosing healthy lifestyle behaviors and making
adjustments and changes that may end up reducing risks of developing
chronic diseases and other morbidities. Health promotion programs
mainly focus on keeping people healthy. World Health Organization
defines Health Promotion Programs as "The process of enabling people to
increase control over, and to improve, their health. It moves beyond a
focus on individual behavior towards a wide range of social and
environmental interventions.” Health promotion programs often address
social determinants of health and influence risk behaviors that can be
modified. The social determinants of health include social, cultural,
economic and political conditions in which people are born, grow and live
that affects their health status. The modifiable behaviors include quitting
smoking and alcohol consumption, poor eating habits accompanied by
lack of physical activities that contribute to the development of chronic
conditions and diseases. The typical activities involved in health
promotion programs include communication, education, and policy,
system and environmental changes. these are summarized by the World
Health Organization into three elements of which include good
governance for health, health literacy, and healthy cities. Starting with
the good governance, Australia has the Cancer Australia Act 2006, which
has its vision as reducing the impact of cancer and improving the well
being of those affected by cancer. This act was developed by the
Australian government with the aim of benefitting the patients suffering
from cancer and their families at large. The main role of Cancer
Australia's leadership in health promotion program is to shape the cancer
control agenda, define best practices in cancer care and to guide
investment in cancer management. Doing so it is evidently seen that the

Australian government is making health a central line of its policy. They,
therefore, prioritize policies that prevent Australians from suffering from
cancer. Their policies are supported by regulations that match private
sector incentives with public health goals. For example, aligning tax on
harmful products such as tobacco and alcohol that can increase the rate
of colorectal cancer. Health promotion allows people to acquire the
knowledge, skills and the information they require to make healthy
choices. Such as choosing foods that are healthy and won’t put people
into high risk of chronic diseases.
References
Baugh Littlejohns, L., Baum, F., Lawless, A. and Freeman, T., 2019.
Disappearing health system building blocks in the health promotion
policy context in South Australia (2003–2013).
Critical Public
Health,
29(2), pp.228-240.
Marmot, M., Allen, J., Bell, R., Bloomer, E. and Goldblatt, P., 2012. WHO
European review of social determinants of health and the health
divide.
The lancet,
380(9846), pp.1011-1029.
3. How does the program demonstrate the principles of primary
healthcare? (400 words)
The engagement of the community and its members in the program
activities. The purpose of the program is to sustain the communities and
this helps in making sure that the national and local resources are well
utilized. The services of this program are distributed well or equitably
without considering the gender, age, the physical location of the people
they are served to. This is to ensure that all the community problems are
met and solved. The use of appropriate technology is advocated to
ensure it provides services that are accepted culturally by the
community. The members of the community should be able to afford the
technology financially and they should physically access the services
whenever they need them. The technology should also conform to the
norms of the community. It should also be friendly in that the community
members themselves can be trained on how to use it after the program
pioneers have gone. For effective service delivery, the program cannot
work on its own or work with a single department hence recognition to
work with other sectors of health like the agricultural sector in the
provision of proper nutrition, sector of sanitation in ensuring the
community receives clean water for use. Partnership with the
government can also be created to ensure rural development in relation
to industries and even infrastructure. Before introducing a program in the
community, one should study the community first to ensure that the
program does not violate or cause harm to their way of doing things. The
members must always accept the program to also win their trust and
ensure they fully participate in achieving the program objectives. The
program should also be able to increase awareness of health among the
community members and help them be in control of their own health so
as to improve their health. This can be achieved through the creation of
education programs in the community to empower their actions towards
their own health.
References
Wakerman, J., Humphreys, J., Wells, R., Kuipers, P., Entwistle, P., & Jones,