Policy Discussion Document: National Women’s Health Policy

This policy discussion document focuses on the National Women’s Health Policy in Australia. It discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the policy, as well as proposed recommendations for improvement. The document also explores the possible outcomes of implementing these recommendations. Read more to learn about the key principles and outcomes of the policy.

Running head: POLICY DISCUSSION DOCUEMENT
POLICY DISCUSSION DOCUEMENT (National Women’s Health Policy)
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Introduction
In this paper, the policy paper related to Australian governments ‘National Women’s
Health Policy’ by the Australian department of Health has been chosen. This policy paper has
been chosen for discussion and public consultation as it was mentioned in Health.gov.au (2019),
that women health and safety is one of the major concerns of the Australian government. Further
it was seen that every 1 in three women is Australian society is prone to be affected with physical
violence and making their lives free from violence and adverse health conditions are among the
primary goals of the Australian government’s effective policies and programs (Health.gov.au
2019).
Hence, a detailed discussion about this specific policy would be provided in this paper.
Further, with discussion about the strength and weakness of the policy draft, they key principles
and outcomes would be discussed. Finally, with few recommendations for the improvement of
the policy, the expected outcome after implementation of changes would be discussed.
Outline of the public health points mentioned in this policy
The Australian government mentioned that despite having a safe and secured as well as
progressive healthcare policy for women, inequality in the healthcare process could be observed
and communities that are not connected with healthcare facilities are affected with such
inequalities in the process (Health.gov.au 2019). Hence, this amended policy was developed and
implemented in the healthcare facilities of Australia so that the purpose of the national women’s
health related to health and wellbeing and elimination of health inequalities and the social
determinants of those inequalities could be addressed (Health.gov.au 2019). The primary aim of
this policy document is to address the healthcare inequalities related to sex, gender and social

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determinants of health, social inclusion, aboriginal and Torres Strait islanders. Further, it also
mentions that new and modified risk factors of the younger generation, related to substance
abuse, inactive lifestyle and unprotected sex so that barriers and facilitators of healthcare access
for such women could be understood (Health.gov.au 2019).
Besides this, the governmental policy framework for women’s health mentioned that
there are several principles that form the base of the new and modified healthcare policy for
women of Australia. The basic principles are associated to gender equity, life course approach of
healthcare, healthcare prevention, evidence based practice and healthcare equity among the
women of different community and economic stability (Health.gov.au 2019). This policy
document especially mention about the social and economic disadvantages due to which a
specific section of the women are unable to achieve the healthcare facilities or utilise their right
of good healthcare. In this aspect the data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2019) should
be mentioned as 32% of the disease burden is suffered by these disadvantaged group of women
as it was seen that 29% of deaths due to coronary heart disease is associated with the this
community of women. Therefore, it is the healthcare policy document that has been developed
by the Australian government so that the lacks present in the women healthcare policies and
guidelines could be eliminated (Health.gov.au 2019).
Strengths and weaknesses of the draft policy
The policy has been developed from the modification and amendments of the previous
policies and documents that provide it a great base for growth and development of healthcare
policies for women. As per Health.gov.au (2019), the 2008 policy developed after the National
Rural Women’s Summit by the Australian healthcare government the women did not had any

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rural women representative for the healthcare policies and promotions of rural women. In this
course, this new amendment strengthens the voice of rural women as it mandates the
representation of rural women in healthcare policy development, decision making and
identification of leadership. Hence, the first strength of this policy developed for the healthcare
of women, is that the voice it provides to the women that are at the high risk of poor health,
healthcare inequality and other aspects (Health.gov.au 2019). Further, it also increases the
number of healthcare advocates of women in Australia as well as increases the rate of awareness
so that prevention of adverse events and decision making could become the primary aspect of
healthcare. However, as per the data published in Health.gov.au (2019), these policies are still
not applied in remote and rural region of Australia, that needs such policies the most. Further,
lack of funding, practice, quality assurance and increases inequality are the primary weaknesses
due to which the effectiveness of the interventions decreases and despite of innovative
approaches and strategies, majority of the women that are at the high risk of healthcare
conditions develops the symptoms of those diseases. Besides these, it was also mentioned that,
these policies does not allow the healthcare facilities to increase their capacity so that they could
increase their abilities to include maximum of target groups in the healthcare facilities. Further, it
was also mentioned that the government has also not provided Medicare facilities to the remote
locations with increase gender and social determinant related inequalities (Health.gov.au 2019).
Hence, the outcome of the application of this policy framework for the women healthcare in
Australia provided moderate benefit to the communities and hence, it requires several
modifications and recommendation so that its application could be increased and applied to the
remote and rural locations of Australia (Hill et al. 2016).

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Proposed recommendations
The first recommendation that should be applied in this policy related to Women’s
healthcare in Australia, is increasing the rate of awareness in national, state, city, block, ward and
area basis so that awareness and educational strategies could be provided to the communities,
starting from the people with higher economic stability to the deprived community with limited
access to the healthcare service.
The second recommendations would be application of employment of women in the
healthcare facilities so that the women could be provided with voice and representation in the
development of healthcare policies and with the help of their representation, the communities
could overcome their risk factors of health. More than 20 community representation would be
achieved for the women of low social determinants of health, and with their help, awareness
among socially, politically and economically effective care could be provided.
The third recommendation would be proper analysis and measurement strategies for the
healthcare policies and adopting quality improvement approaches so that the women suffering
from severe healthcare complications could be provided with effective healthcare interventions.
This would help the healthcare facilities to promote the concept of rapid and effective learning in
the healthcare facilities so that advancement of quality improvement could be conducted.
Therefore, these are the recommendations that should be implemented in the healthcare
facilities so that with effective interventions, application of policy developments strategies and
interventions could be developed.

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Possible outcome of the proposed recommendations and the outcomes
With the effective implementation of the proposed recommendation would help the
Australian government to develop effective inclusion of women so that with their strategic
involvement in the policy making and developmental strategies, applicability and
implementation of such policies in rural and remote areas increases (Health.gov.au 2019). Hence,
with application of recommendation related to inclusion of women in decision making and
important positions, positive outcome for women health development increases. Besides this,
application of awareness, and educational strategies among the women of rural and remote areas
would help the people to understand their rights, responsibilities and key strategies applied for
their healthcare improvement. As per Wray, Ussher and Perz (2014) application of correct and
accurate healthcare strategies and awareness program for the healthcare program helps to
improve the healthcare condition of communities. Hence, this is the healthcare recommendation
that should be applied in this healthcare policy so that maximum number of women could
become aware of the healthcare policies (Gabe, Harley and Calnan 2015). The third intervention
would also provide effective outcome for the healthcare process of women in both urban and
rural region of the Australia. A healthcare evaluation team would be developed for the
assessment and evaluation of the healthcare strategies of the Australian policy for healthcare of
women so that with their assessment, loopholes and lacks of the framework could be developed
(Waring et al. 2016). Hence, it was mentioned that with application of three recommendations
mentioned in this paper, improvement of the healthcare facilities for women in the Australia
could be improved. Further, these recommendations would help to advocate for the women in
Australia for their healthcare and wellbeing.

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Conclusion
There are several documents and research articles that should be implemented for the
application of the recommendations in the women’s healthcare process. As per Gabe, Harley and
Calnan (2015), implementation of the healthcare recommendations in the healthcare facilities
would help the women in the remote and rural locations. Besides this, as per Waring et al. (2016)
government should implement surveys and feedback from the local and state governmental
websites so that people could spread awareness about the process and increase the awareness
about the healthcare complications of women. Besides this, the sustainable development goals by
World Health Organisation should also be assessed by the government of Australia to comply
with the important aspects.

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References
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2019). [online] Australian Bureau of Statistics. Available at:
https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/men-women/female-health/contents/who-are[Accessed 3 May
2019].
Clark, A., Gilbert, A., Rao, D. and Kerr, L., 2014. ‘Excuse me, do any of you ladies speak
English?’Perspectives of refugee women living in South Australia: barriers to accessing primary
health care and achieving the Quality Use of Medicines. Australian Journal of Primary
Health, 20(1), pp.92-97.
Gabe, J., Harley, K. and Calnan, M., 2015. Healthcare choice: Discourses, perceptions,
experiences and practices. Current Sociology, 63(5), pp.623-635.
Health.gov.au (2019). [online] Health.gov.au. Available at:
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/38FF434F5AE683E3CA257BF0
001E72E7/$File/cons-dis-paper2009.pdf [Accessed 3 May 2019].
Health.gov.au (2019). [online] Health.gov.au. Available at:
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/phd-women-consult-disc-paper
[Accessed 3 May 2019].
Hill, M., Johnson, J.A., Langlois, S., Lee, H., Winsor, S., Dineley, B., Horniachek, M., Lalatta,
F., Ronzoni, L., Barrett, A.N. and Advani, H.V., 2016. Preferences for prenatal tests for Down
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professionals. European Journal of Human Genetics, 24(7), p.968.

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Waring, J., Allen, D., Braithwaite, J. and Sandall, J., 2016. Healthcare quality and safety: a
review of policy, practice and research. Sociology of Health & Illness, 38(2), pp.198-215.
Wray, A., Ussher, J.M. and Perz, J., 2014. Constructions and experiences of sexual health among
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sexuality, 16(1), pp.76-89.