Impact of Urbanization on Healthcare in Australia

This article discusses the negative impacts of urbanization on healthcare in Australia, including job scarcity, social injustices, and increased disease transmission. The study objective is to educate people on the benefits of utilizing resources in the upcountry to reduce these issues.

Running head: HEALTH ADVANCEMENT AND PROMOTION 1
Health Advancement and Promotion
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Introduction
The Australian healthcare sector is one of the best in the world when compared to the
care sectors that other countries have, especially the developing ones. However, there are several
issues that still need to be fixed in order for it to be the best in the globe. Some of these factors
include the high rate of urbanization, increased costs of care, and improper funding of the health
care. The Australian market is benefited with the availability of both the private and the public
sectors that aid in the funding of the care services but due to the perception that the health care
costs should be left for the market, the funding loses its way. This article will strictly focus on
the issue of the increased rate of urbanization that has increased the absence of proper care for
every person, the lack of enough resources, and the increased rates of suicides. As it is known to
every Australian, the higher the urbanization rate that we are experiencing comes with a cost as it
makes it difficult for the state to do planning for every family that is in the rise.
The search strategy
In order to come up with the relevant details on how the increased rate of urbanization
has affected us as Australians, I had to utilize a number of search engines specifically made for
the nursing profession so as to increase my efficiency. These search engines include the likes of
MedNets, the Hardin MD, Google Scholar, PubMed, Entrez, and eMedicine for the best results.
For instance, most articles used in this research work have been attained by Google Scholar as it
offers a wide range of peer-reviewed articles for the researchers. The keywords used in the
search for the relevant information included urbanization, Australian health sector, effects of
rapid urbanization, WHO on urbanization, and the dangers of poor health care.
Inclusion/exclusion criteria

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Since the essay has to strictly focus on the medical data that is available particularly for
the Australian people, the peer-reviewed data that was used in this research article was from the
medical journals. Every article that consisted of the data that was helpful in terms of the rate
urbanization has affected the healthcare sector of Australia was keenly used. Other articles that
supported the research with the data on the effect of urbanization in Australia were also put into
consideration. The external research was, in addition, conducted especially on the records
provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the proper and exact records of how
many people are affected by the rate of urbanization here in Australia. Since our country speaks
mostly in English, articles that had data in English were the only ones used. Those written in
Mandarin and Russian were never considered to be used. In addition to the external sources used
those data sources that redirected me to Wikipedia and Wikimedia were strictly canceled and
never utilized as they lack originality and uniqueness.
Summary evidence of the data sources used
From the research that was conducted, the following outcomes were attained. From
PubMed, it was evident that rapid urbanization results in poor delivery of healthcare to the
Australians for the following reasons. First of all, the high rate of people moving to the urban
centers results in the overutilization of resources that are limited by the high number of people
(Lambert, et. al., 2015). This is because the resources are limited meaning that they can only
satisfy the limited number of people if it is to last longer. However, too many people cause the
increase rate of utilization of this resource resulting in its scarcity over a very short period of
time (Shanahan, et. al., 2015). This fact has been the reason why the cost of living in the urban
centers is high compared to that in the upcountry.

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Secondly, urbanization brings about the increase of people settling in one developed
region. As a result, some may come with new infections and infect the already residing persons
or contract the infections that are within the area of the local’s residence (Li, et. al., 2016). A key
example is the spread of HIV/AIDS. The rate at which urbanization happens here in Australia
has caused some members of the society to lose their daily source of revenue and decide to
participate in drug and immoral businesses such as prostitution (Bhaskar, et al., 2016). As a
result, more people become the customers of the new business in town and may end up
contracting and spreading the HIV from one person to another and even to their loved ones
(Kuddus & Rahman, 2015).
The third factor is that the rapid urbanization results in the reduction of the employment
chances that are available for every member of the society (Badland, et al., 2014). These aspects
create a gap between the haves and have not by raising the rate of unemployment. When too
many people are jobless, there is a high chance of the persons trying to find a new way of
sustaining themselves in these towns (Chen, et al., 2016). This fact results in the practices of
immorality through the named prostitution, stealing, rape cases, and increased armed robbery
cases as well. In the end, more social injustices number up in our towns and, as a result, it
becomes more difficult to prevent further infections as more people are unsafe from the disease
hazardous areas.
Considering the lifestyle in Sidney, many immigrants who come to live in the town lack
the knowledge of how the already set-up health care system works. When compared to the
upcountry medical fees, it is very evident that the cost of medication in Sidney is high (Pavao-
Zuckerman & Pouyat, 2017). As a result, many immigrants who settle in the town may never
understand or seek the medical attention form the hospitals making it very difficult for the state

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to control these ailments when the hosts are reluctant of seeking help. Environmental pollution
also increases with the increase in the number of people living in a crowded region (Yuan, Ren,
& Chen, 2015). Thus, the easiness of the spread of the diseases, such as malaria and diarrhea that
arise from the faces of dirt, becomes more presentable.
Finally, from the MedNets search engine, it has been found out that the higher the rate of
urbanization here in Australia, the more the chances that poisonous substances are spread to the
environment. The availability of the poisonous substances in the environment increases the
chances of abortion, neonatal deaths, defects in births, and the improper growth of the fetus in
the mother’s womb (Badland, et al., 2014).
Conclusion
From the research that I conducted, it is evident that the high rate of urbanization in
Australia has resulted in the negative impacts towards the environment and the society as well. It
is seen that the high number of people causes job scarcity, which triggers social injustices, which
then result in the increased rates of disease transmission from one person to another.
Study objectives
The study objective of this research is basically to educate people on why to excessive
migration to the urban centers may be ineffective for their health and wellbeing as a whole. If the
rate is reduced, more ailments and their transmission may be reduced as well as the improvement
of the care services being offered to the general public (Liu, Pan, & Wu, 2016). If more people
would identify the benefits that come from the utilization of the resources that are available in
the upcountry, the issues of social immorality, the housing problem, and increased ailment
transmission between one person and another can be effectively managed.

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Further research
I would best recommend further research on how best people can be educated on not
migrating to the urban centers as well as how the state can be encouraged to develop the
upcountry so as to attract more people to the upcountry rather than to the urban centers.

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Reference
Badland, H., Whitzman, C., Lowe, M., Davern, M., Aye, L., Butterworth, I., et al. (2014). Urban
liveability: emerging lessons from Australia for exploring the potential for indicators to
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Bhaskar, A. S., Beesley, L., Burns, M. J., Fletcher, T. D., Hamel, P., Oldham, C. E., et al. (2016).
Will it rise or will it fall? Managing the complex effects of urbanization on base flow.
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Chen, K., Zhou, L., Chen, X., Ma, Z., Liu, Y., Huang, L., et al. (2016). Urbanization level and
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Kuddus, A., & Rahman, A. (2015). Affect of urbanization on health and nutrition. International
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Lambert, K. G., Nelson, R. J., & Jovanovic, T. (2015). Brains in the city: neurobiological effects
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Liu, G. G., Pan, J., & Wu, X. Y. (2016). Urbanization, population health, and policy reforms. In
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Pavao-Zuckerman, M., & Pouyat, R. V. (2017). The effects of urban expansion on soil health
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