Policy for Advocacy: Aboriginal Health and Cancer in Australia

This report examines the health challenges faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Australia, with a specific focus on cancer as a major health issue. It analyzes the role of the Australian Human Rights Commission in advocating for improved health outcomes, including the commission's aims, objectives, and the importance of policy advocacy. The report highlights the disparities in health services, the impact of lifestyle factors, and the need for increased access to primary healthcare. It also explores the causes of death, the prevalence of cancer, and the factors contributing to these health issues. Furthermore, the report emphasizes the need for increased awareness, the reduction of fear related to diseases, and the expansion of advocacy groups. Finally, the report recommends actions for the government to address these issues and improve the health and well-being of Aboriginal communities.

Running head: POLICY FOR ADVOCACY
Policy for Advocacy
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary:
It is important on the part of both government and non-governmental organizations to implement
policies for advocacy. The purpose of this paper is to emphasize upon a chosen organization
which is the Australian Human Rights Commission and its values and ideologies. In this regard,
the intention of the paper is to evaluate the health problems faced by a particular population
group. The paper intends to lay emphasis upon the aims and objectives of the policy for
advocacy. Lastly, the paper is commissioned to recommend various actions which need to be
introduced by the government.

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Table of Contents
Background:...................................................................................................................................3
The health issues faced by the Aboriginal population:..............................................................4
Aims and Objectives of the policy for Advocacy:.......................................................................7
Recommendations:........................................................................................................................9
References:...................................................................................................................................11

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Background:
It is evident that improving the health conditions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
communities has been a major challenge for the Australian government for a long time. In this
regard, the Australian Human Rights Commission has taken favorable steps for the purpose of
improvising the health status of Aboriginal communities to a large extent (Australian Human
Rights Commission, 2018). It is noteworthy to mention here that, from the beginning the
Australian Human Rights Commission has aimed to investigate into the underlying concepts and
challenges of advocacy from the perspective of communities suffering from health-related issues
(Fisher et al., 2016). In this regard, the Commission has developed various objectives of its own
for the purpose of developing and at the same time exploring the importance of policy advocacy
at an international and state level by keeping n view the principles of law, policy and practice
(Australian Human Rights Commission, 2018). However, the main objective of the Australian
Human Rights Commission is concerned with the identification of the common challenges as
well as the appropriate actions that would be applicable in enhancing services of advocacy for
aboriginal people suffering from health issues (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2018).
It is worth mentioning that it is important to involve commitments in policies for the
purpose of reducing the factors contributing towards cancer among the Aboriginal communities
(Stoneham, Goodman & Daube, 2014). It is evident that incremental approach will not provide
appropriate solution in reducing the health disparities existing between the Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander (Hunt et al., 2016). It is worth examining that the Australian Human Rights
Commission has initiated the implementation of various policies for the purpose of reducing
cancer within the Aboriginal communities (Khoury, 2015). In recent era, it can be observed that

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cancer is the main disease that has been affecting the health conditions of the Aboriginals (Fisher
et al., 2016). In this context, it is worthwhile to refer here that the objectives of health equality of
the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander can be achieved by seizing opportunities which are in
existence through the new policies made on the Indigenous affairs at both state and federal levels
(Malla et al., 2016). Therefore, the Commission aims to capitalize on the overall healthy
economic condition of the country for the purpose of improving their health standards so that
they could maintain a life of dignity.
The health issues faced by the Aboriginal population:
The poor health conditions of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are not a
new issue. It is evident that from the very beginning, various government and human rights
organizations have been working together for the purpose of securing the health conditions of the
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Australia (Fisher et al., 2015). The aim of
these human rights organization was to provide active support to the Australian governments in
improving the health and life expectation quality for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
communities in Australia (Khoury, 2015). It is important to state that the health conditions of the
people of Australia have significantly changed over the last five years as a result of major
advances in the medical standards and rising prosperity (Worrall-Carter et al., 2016). However, it
is worth noting that in spite of various developments, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
communities did not receive any benefits regarding health care facilities.
The main form of disease which is prevalent among the Aboriginal and the people
belonging to Torres Strait Islander is cancer (Pockett & Beddoe, 2017). In this regard, it is
noteworthy to mention here that, the health problems are mostly faced by the women population

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belonging to the Aboriginal communities (Love, Moore & Warburton, 2017). It is worth
mentioning that according to recent reports the most common disease which is prevalent among
the Aboriginal communities is cancer (Stoneham, Goodman & Daube, 2014). However, women
belonging to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander are more prone to cancer as a result of
their lifestyle and poor nutrition (Sayers et al., 2017). In this regard, it is worth mentioning that
primary health care services are concerned with the prevention of diseases from occurring in the
first place. The objective of primary health care services is to involve in the detection of various
diseases at the early stage (Baum et al., 2014). As a result of inaccessibility to primary health
care services, the diseases which could be prevented at early stages become chronic issues. In the
same way cancer is a disease which if treated in the early stage can be cured however; if it is left
untreated then it will definitely result into death (Macniven et al., 2017). It is worthwhile to refer
here that apart from the availability of adequate primary health care services, the presence of
poor quality housing facilities and overcrowding in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
communities have contributed negatively to the health standards of such community (Munns et
al., 2016).
Causes of Death Percentage
Cancer 20%
Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders 9.5%
Respiratory Diseases 7.7%
Injury and Poisoning 17%
Digestive Diseases 5.8%
Figure 1: Causes of death among Aboriginal people in Australia from 2011-2015.
Source: [Created by the Author].

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From figure 1, it can be observed that the most common cause of death among the
Aboriginal communities of Australia is cancer. However, other diseases are contributed equally
to the death percentage of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
From Figure 1, it is evident that, the most malicious disease from which the communities
of the Aboriginal and Torres Islander communities are suffering is cancer. Though cancer can be
treated however; the risk is high in case of Aboriginal communities as they do not get access to
adequate health facilities (Stoneham, Goodman & Daube, 2014). It can be observed from recent
reports that, the most common form of cancer that causes death among the Aboriginal and Torres
Islanders are lung cancer (Munns et al., 2016). This is due to the reason that, the people
belonging to the Aboriginal and Torres Islander communities are involved in smoking (Pockett
& Beddoe, 2017). However, other risk factors such as drinking alcohol and poor eating habits
contribute towards the causation of cancer. It is important to emphasize upon other factors which
efficiently contribute towards the causes of cancer among the people of Aboriginal and Torres
Islander communities which is also the major cause of their death (Sayers et al., 2017). These
factors can be undermined as-
I. The cancers which are likely to cause death are lung cancer and liver cancers are more
prevalent among such community as a result of poor nutrition (Malla et al., 2016).
II. Even if the form of cancer among such community has been detected in the early state,
due to lack of access to health facilities, it contributes towards death (Worrall-Carter et
al., 2016).
III. Optimal treatment is not granted to them form the health care centers.

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The poor health conditions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are a common
fact. As a result of substantial inequalities existing between the Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander people and non-Indigenous communities of Australia that in relation to lung cancer,
throat cancer and liver cancer, created unfavorable impact upon the infant health and life
expectancy of both men and women (Pockett & Beddoe, 2017). Various government and non-
governmental organizations have implemented policies for the purpose of addressing the issues
faced by the Aboriginal communities in relation to health issues caused by cancer (Sayers et al.,
2017). The Australian Human Rights Commission has made commitments in order to address the
existing inequalities in health services and has accompanied incremental funding procedures
(Baum et al., 2014). In this regard, the Commission has developed strategies and various policy
frameworks by engaging the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities for the purpose
of acknowledging that health care centers should take favorable steps in determining the cause of
cancer among such community and in such process steps should be taken in order to provide
adequate treatment (Love, Moore & Warburton, 2017). It is worthwhile to refer, here that, in
spite of several attempts on the part of the Australian Human Rights Commission, recent reports
have shown that there has been relatively slow improvements in the areas of health services and
in some areas there has been no improvement at all (Worrall-Carter et al., 2016). In recent era,
few improvements have been made by the government authorities towards the improvement of
indigenous communities however; the gains experiences by these indigenous communities are
relatively low compared to that of non-indigenous communities (Pockett & Beddoe, 2017).
Aims and Objectives of the policy for Advocacy:
It is noteworthy to mention here that, there are many ways in which advocacy can be
conceptualized. In this regard, it is worth mentioning that, from the very beginning the aims and

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objectives of policy advocacy is not limited to the number of decisions made on the part of both
government and non-governmental organizations (Sayers et al., 2017). It is worthwhile to refer
here that in every sphere of life, policy advocacy has a significant role to play. In order to make
appropriate changes regarding the health-related issues faced by the aboriginal communities,
policy advocacy has an important role to play (Hunt et al., 2015). It is worth stating that in order
to address the issues of child malnutrition, funding for family planning clinic and inaccessibility
to health care programs within the organization, policy advocacy has proved to be beneficial in
achieving such goals (Khoury, 2015).
It is important to note here that health policies has been implemented for the purpose of
governing rules regarding health problems, health services and safety conditions. On the other
hand policy change is a sudden shift in the rules and regulations which provides opportunities for
doing things in a new way (Baum et al., 2014). Therefore, advocacy can be considered as a way
to change the rules and regulations of health policies and at the same time allocating the
decisions of both the government and health organizations (Worrall-Carter et al., 2016). It is
worth noting that the Australian Human Rights Commission has implemented long-term goals
for the purpose of reducing health-related issues by improving quality of life (Australian Human
Rights Commission, 2018). From the very beginning, the Commission has been involved in
developing well-structured and well-executed advocacy plan for the purpose of achieving desired
objectives (Munns et al., 2016). It is evident that an efficient policy advocacy helps in
responding to the identified needs by building trust and opportunities and at the same time
overcoming barriers to comprehensive control of health problems (Stoneham, Goodman &
Daube, 2014).

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The various aims and objectives of the policy for advocacy can be emphasized as
follows-
I. To increase healthcare awareness among the communities of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander and the general public as well.
II. To reduce fear of various dangerous diseases among the people belonging to low socio-
economic groups of the Aboriginal communities (Baum et al., 2014).
III. To involve in the progressive expansion of advocacy groups which would include
community volunteers and various patients groups belonging to the Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander communities (Sayers et al., 2017).
IV. Maintaining the involvement of decision and policy-makers regarding the
implementation of health-care facilities for the purpose of addressing future challenges
(Love, Moore & Warburton, 2017).
Recommendations:
For the purpose of achieving efficient health standards within the Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander communities, it is important that the government authorities should implement
new plans and policies (Worrall-Carter et al., 2016). In this regard, the following steps can be
recommended to the government for the purpose of improving health care services of the
Aboriginal communities.
1) It is important on the part of the government to set up primary health services by taking
into consideration effective primary health care plans and support.
2) It is important to improve access to primary health care for the Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander communities for the purpose of delivering high quality and comprehensive

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primary health care services (Love, Moore & Warburton, 2017). However, such changes
should be made by taking into account the principles of sound governance and
accountability in accordance with evidence based best practice.
3) Government authorities should emphasize much upon the development of targeted health
activities (Love, Moore & Warburton, 2017). In this regard, it is worth mentioning that,
targeted health activities include delivery of evidence-based health promotion activities
by targeting the health issues which are prevalent in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander communities (Worrall-Carter et al., 2016). The targeted health activities on
which the government should focus are-
 Social conditions and poor living conditions which promotes cancer among such
community.
 Drug and alcohol abuse which can be regarded as the main cause of cancer.
 Protection of health by promoting health education among the Aboriginal population.
 Prevention of chronic diseases like renal disease, cancer, diabetes and respiratory
diseases.
4) The government should emphasize on the promotion of capital works which includes the
development of safe and appropriate infrastructure for the purpose of developing and
supporting the delivery of comprehensive primary health care services to the Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander people (Baum et al., 2014).
5) The government authorities should enhance governance and system effectiveness which
provides valuable information regarding system support, data evaluation and quality
improvement (Macniven et al., 2017). As a result of such approach on the part of the
government, it will prove to be beneficial in strengthening the quality and the safety of

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healthcare provisions to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities (Munns et
al., 2016).