Health Promotion Needs Assessment for Refugees and Migrants in Victoria Australia

Running head: NURSING
Nursing
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

NURSING
Introduction
Latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) is a state of body where constant immune
response is generated against the presence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigens however,
there are no active clinical manifestations of TB. Someone is said to be suffering from LTBI
if they are infected with TB but is not exhibiting signs and symptoms and are vulnerable
towards developing TB in near future (World Health Organization, 2019). The following
health promotion need assessment essay aims to identify the health needs of the refuges and
the migrants residing in Victoria Australia in the domain of exacerbating LTBI. The essay
will initiate with the rationale of selecting this particular population followed by health
disparity in LTBI. This will be followed by the past and the present LTBI prevention program
followed by pros and cons of such program. At the end, the essay will recommend few
strategies in order to promote comprehensive health promotion in LTBI.
Vulnerable population and rational behind its selection
The vulnerable population of focus in this report is the refugees and migrants of
Victoria, Australia. According to the Australian census data (2016)| published by the Victoria
Government Australia, nearly 28.4% of the Victorian’s population were born overseas. The
survey also states that 49.1% of the Victorian population are either born overseas or have any
one of their parent, born overseas. The majority of the Victorians who are born overseas,
came to Australia as immigrants for seeking better life for them and their family. A large
number of overseas born Victorian migrated to Australia as refugees due to political conflicts
like Second World War in Europe or the Indo-China war. The majority of the migrant
population in Victoria Australia came from Afghanistan, Middle East, Yugoslavia and from
the Horn of Africa.
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This migrants and the refuge population are selected as the main population of choice
because they are proportionately affected by both chronic and infectious diseases and they are
also poorly represented in the heath research. They are also the victims of the social and the
heath inequalities, mainly the asylum seekers (refugee population) in Victoria Australia
(Renzaho et al., 2016). Moreover, migrant population is increasing constantly in Australia
and thus integrating the requirement of the migrants in the effective development of the
health policy is important to reducing the health inequality in Australia. Moreover, the health
needs of the migrants can be addressed in a comprehensive manner once a clear image of
their actual health condition and other social determinants of health are identified (Renzaho et
al., 2016).
Health disparity
The health disparity of focus in this essay is migrants or refuges of Victoria Australia
with latent tuberculosis and their poor access of specialist clinic for undergoing effective
treatment. Dale et al. (2018) stated that migration is the principal driver of the tuberculosis
(TB) in the low incidence setup with the significant among of TB cases are attributed to re-
activation of the latent TB (LTBI) that are acquired overseas. Thus an increased
understanding about the LTBI vulnerability among the heterogonous migrant population will
aid proper healthcare planning. The percentage of Australian residents with LTBI has
increased from 4.6% in 2006 to 5.1% in 2016. All of the residents who are estimated to have
LTBI during 2016 are born overseas or have migrated to Australia in 2007. The prevalence of
LTBI in Australia is poor however, the increased inflow of migrants in Australia have
increased the incidence LTBI. In Victoria specifically, the incidence of LTBI has increased
since 2000 while the numbers have reached its peak during 2010. Lack of speciality care
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facilities, lack of proper screening of the refugees in the detention centres have increased the
rate of LBTI occurrence in Victoria Australia (Victoria State Government, 2019).
Past and existing healthcare programs
The Victoria Government had a comprehensive healthcare program in order to
address the prevailing health inequality among the refugee and the asylum seekers (2014 to
2018). This comprehensive health care program provides several mainstream services like
community health service, dental healthcare service, mental health and substance abuse
prevention service, maternity service and acute care service. Additional services include aged
care service, service for fighting against acute diseases and specialised healthcare services.
The healthcare program also provides Refugee Health Program along with trauma
counselling and support. The main partners and sectors supporting this healthcare plan
include Victorian Refugee Health Network, Local refugee health working groups,
Community advisory groups and organisations and CALD and refugee capacity-building
services (Victorian State Government, 2014).
Apart from the comprehensive health promotion program, the Victorian Government
also has a specific program that is directed towards the prevention and the spread of TB
among the Victorian population. The main interventions of these programs include injection
of BCG vaccine (Bacillus Calmette–Guérin vaccine) to the vulnerable group of population,
introduction of the potent anti-TB drugs and hospitalization of the TB patients along with
control of contacts in order to prevent the spread of TB like an epidemic (Victorian State
Government, 2019). The Victorian State Government also conducted a tuberculin skin test in
order to screen the presence of LTBI among the migrants (1996 to 2006) (Australian
Government Department of Health, 2015).
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