Public Health: Australia

This report focuses on public health policies and practices in Australia, specifically addressing the issue of heart diseases. It discusses the nature of the health problem, the population affected, and the need for intervention strategies. The report aims to provide information to the Minister of Health for effective prevention and management of heart diseases in Australia.

Running Head: PUBLIC HEALTH
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Public Health
Public Health: Australia
(Student details :)
4/9/2019

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Contents
Public Health of Australia..........................................................................................................2
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Heart diseases in Australia.........................................................................................................2
The nature of the health problem...........................................................................................2
The population affected by the problem................................................................................4
The magnitude of the health problem within targeted population.........................................4
The distal and proximal determinants of the chosen health problem.....................................4
The core features of the targeted population..........................................................................4
The reason why an intervention health strategy is needed.....................................................5
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................6

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Public Health of Australia
Introduction
The report is focused on public health policies and practices in favour of Australian
public. To brief to the Minister for Health, the paper is going to outline one health issue of
Australia in order to intervene for cultivating population health. Additionally, within this
paper the health management strategies and their justification based on priority of the the
health problems will be covered. Therefore, this detailed research over a chronic health issue
of the Australian public will be conducted in order to brief it to the Minister of Health.
Heart diseases in Australia
In this context, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) in Australia mainly constitute heart
stroke and heart diseases. They are greatly prevalent as 4.2 million Australians are presently
living with CVDs (AIHW, 2018). The CVDs are the main cause of avertable hospital
admissions and hence causes 30 per cent of total deaths within Australia (Beg, Vos, &
Barker, 2009). Heart diseases are the leading causes of the fatal health burden of diseases at
around 23 per cent. In addition, CVD is causing total burden of heart diseases at 15%. This
research is mainly dedicated to briefing this health issue to the Minister of Health so that
prevention and cure can be achieved easily with the help of improved public health policies
and practices (Beg, Vos, & Barker, 2009).
The nature of the health problem
The nature of this chosen health problem can be easily seen as heart disease is
a main cause of deaths within Australia, as sources said 43,477 deaths have been caused due
to CVD in Australia during the year 2017 (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2011).
Moreover, CVD often kills 1 Australian every 12 minutes. In this way, CVD is among
Australia's critical health issues and despite so many improvements during the last some
decades, it is remaining one of the biggest health burdens of Australian economy (Macri,
2016). Furthermore, some important attributes of the heart diseases in Australia are as
follows:
 CVDs are stroke, heart and blood vessel related diseases.

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 CVD affects 1 in 6 Australians or 4.2 million Australians.
 In Australia, most of the people aged 65 years or elder than that are presently living
with long-term CVDs (AIHW, 2018).
 During 2016-2017, heart disease was the major cause for above 575,800
hospitalisations (HRI, 2019).
 In this context, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, inferior socioeconomic
groups, as well as people living in out-of-the-way places showed the maximum rate of
hospitalisation and deaths due to CVDs in Australia (Macri, 2016).

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Source: (AIHW, 2018)
The population affected by the problem
The major population suffering from heart diseases is of old-age, as out of all
Australians people aged 55-64 years that is 8.8% are observed living with stroke, heart or
some any other CVD (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2011). In this way, this
health problem of Australian public health is prevalent among older age people those aged
55-85 years and over. Furthermore, middle aged people are also hugely affected by heart
diseases as many people over age 35 years and younger than 55 years are now a days facing
heart problems at large extent (Beg, Vos, & Barker, 2009).
The magnitude of the health problem within targeted population
The magnitude of the heart diseases among targeted population of Australia is too
high that no directional efforts and policies are helping in preventing this health problem
(AIHW, 2018). In addition, CVD in Australia accounts for 15 % of the total health diseases
burden in Australia. The data showing that CVD kills one Australian every 12 minutes,
depicting the magnitude of the health problem within affected population (Australian Institute
of Health and Welfare, 2011).
The distal and proximal determinants of the chosen health problem
The distal and proximal determinants of the CVDs in Australia are including risk
factors which cannot be modified counting age, gender, genetic predisposition and ethnicity
(AIHW, 2018). In addition, some risks factors are modifiable include behavioural aspects like
insufficient physical activity, poor diet, tobacco smoking as well as excessive alcohol
consumption. Furthermore, few biomedical factors play an important role, like high blood
cholesterol, abnormal blood pressure, overweight and obesity (HRI, 2019). Additionally, it is
well-known that diabetes majorly enhances the risk of CVDs among Australians
(Chenzbraun, 2010).
The core features of the targeted population
Some key features of the targeted population of the heart disease in Australia are as
follows:

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 Despite knowing all risk factors related to CVDs, Australians do not try to avoid
them. For an example, diet plays an important role and diet imbalance rate is so high
among Aboriginal and Torres Islander people of Australia (Berry, 2012).
 In addition, smoking majorly contributes towards CVDs and still Australians smoke at
a very high rate (HRI, 2019).
 Morbidity, mortality and delayed treatment are some of the key features of this
targeted population.
 As per the recent studies, evidences are suggesting that risks of heart diseases are
usually double for physically inactive peoples of Australia than those of active
individuals. In this context, people who are affected are less active physically (HRI,
2019).
The reason why an intervention health strategy is needed
Post researching over this chronic health issue within Australia, this paper has found
many cases why the Minister of Health supposed to have an intervention health strategy
within the region of Australia. They are as follows:
 To strengthening public-health policy system of Australia
 To find and promote cost-effective actions for tackling heart diseases in Australia
 To close the gap on heart disease health problem in order to regulate and implement
enforcement among public health (Newton & Joyce, 2012).
 To address the CVDs research crisis (Newton & Joyce, 2012).
 To create, evolve as well as manage most needed public health policies
 To help Australians for moving more and sitting less
 To find scope for future actions within public-health sector within Australia (Macri,
2016).
Conclusion
In whole, with the help of this report a detailed study over health issue of ‘heart
disease’ within Australia has been done successfully while identified the key role of
Government as well as Minister of Health into it. A segment of Australian population has
been identified affected public thorough chosen chronic health issue. In addition, extent of
severity of the health problem within Australia has been assessed with the help of recent
statistics over CVD caused deaths, and many more. Finally, this report has been successfully

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highlighted the need of an intervention health strategy executed by the Minister of Health for
the effective prevention of heart diseases in Australia.

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References
AIHW. (2011). Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Canberra: AIHW.
AIHW. (2018). Australia’s Health 2018. Retrieved from AIHW:
https://www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/fe037cf1-0cd0-4663-a8c0-67cd09b1f30c/aihw-
aus-222.pdf.aspx?inline=true
Beg, S., Vos, T., & Barker, B. (2009). Burden of disease and injury in Australia in the new
millennium. Medical Journal of Australia, 188, 36-40.
Berry, J. (2012). Lifetime Risks of Cardiovascular Disease. New England Journal of
Medicine, 366(4), 321-329.
Chenzbraun, A. (2010). Heart disease. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
HRI. (2019). Risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Retrieved from Heart Research
Institute: https://www.hri.org.au/health/learn/risk-factors/risk-factors-for-
cardiovascular-disease
Macri, J. (2016). Australia's health system: some issues and challenges. Journal of Health
and Medical Economics, 2(2).
Newton, J., & Joyce, A. (2012). Human perspectives. Australia: E. Gregory.