A Prevention Program to educate Australian citizens about UV exposure to prevent skin cancer

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1. Sun smart health promotion program
Surveys acknowledge the fact that Australia has the highest rate of melanoma or skin
cancer in the whole World. Further studies show that two in every three Australians
above 70 years will always be diagnosed with skin cancer (Olsen, Thompson, Green,
Neale, & Whiteman, 2015). This program seeks to educate Australian citizens about the
dangers of UV exposure to prevent skin cancer. It is funded by VicHealth and the
Cancer Council Victoria programs. SunSmart works in collaboration with the primary
and secondary schools, early childhood centres, healthcare professionals, sporting
clubs and local government to reduce the chances of UV exposure over the skin. The
media campaign launched by the SunSmart under the collaboration of Cancer Council
Victoria witnessed significant success. The campaign featured Sid Seagull and was
internationally recognised as Slip! Slop! Slap! Campaign. It was successful in
encouraging people to protect their skin from the harmful rays of the sun and thus
helping to reduce the reported cases of skin cancer in Victoria.
The two principles of primary healthcare used by Sun Smart are equity and community
participation. This program involves communities which include both primary and
secondary schools, health professionals and local government by conducting
workshops to promote a healthy approach regarding exposure to UV (Wright, Winslade,
Dudley, Cotton, & Hamer, 2018). On the other hand, this program is equitable. It does
not discriminate anyone from accessing their services. They offer their services to
children, adults, women and even men.
2. Medicare

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The two advantages of Medicare insurance in Australia is free or subsidised treatment
by a health professional and free treatment and accommodation as a public (Medicare)
patient in a public hospital.
In Australia, healthcare is publicly funded by the government from the taxes or
premiums raised by citizens and non-citizens. And since they are so many, they are
only entitled to low monthly premiums of only $135 in 2019 for part A and $130 per
month in 2018 for part B (Wong, Greene, Dolja-Gore, & Van Gool, 2016). Medicare also
offers a wide range of healthcare providers. This creates a wide range of services for
the citizens to select their preferred or best option.
Disadvantages of Medicare include out of pocket costs and the lack of vision, dental
and hearing benefits. Studies show that even after paying monthly premiums, some
citizens are forced to raise 80% of the costs from their pockets to carter for medical
expenses (McCall, 2016). Furthermore, Medicare does not cover dental or hearing
issues despite paying monthly premiums.
3.
Marcus is a 65-year-old indigenous male and has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes
that is difficult to manage. As an indigenous patient, he has unique needs that should be
addressed immediately to curb the condition.
The three immediate health-needs for Marcus include:
1 Smoke cessation which is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes
2 Modification of diet.
3 Regular exercise

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Intervention
In order to assist Marcus to access and eat a healthy diet, I would provide patient
education on the importance of eating food that is low in fats under the guidance of a
trained dietician or diabetes educator. The dietician will also design a customised diet
chart for Marcus depending upon the weight, BMI, height, age and gender. On exercise,
I would recommend him a nearby gym so that he can engage in physical activities
regularly to reduce calories and cholesterol in the body (Powers et al., 2017). Finally, I
will educate Marcus on the consequences of smoking so that he does not continue
smoking since it is one of the risk factors for type 2 diabetes.
 Two political and social issues that might impact the development of indigenous
health policy are:
1. Lack of political goodwill and support from the government.
2. Social isolation
The success of any policy not necessarily indigenous health policy relies on the political
interest and funding. If the Australian government does not fully support the indigenous
Health policy, then it won’t be implemented (Baker et al., 2017). On the hand, I would
recommend to involve indigenous policy planners for specifically planning indigenous
health care policies. However, studies reveal that this is not the case as Indigenous
Australians are isolated in most cases. This, therefore, makes it difficult to develop the
indigenous Health policy. When it comes to taking input from the indigenous population
for policy development, government officials often are reluctant in taking indigenous
peoples’ suggestions.