Cardiovascular Disorders in Australia: A Comprehensive Report

This report provides a comprehensive overview of cardiovascular disorders (CVD) in Australia, examining the disease's prevalence, risk factors (modifiable and non-modifiable), and impact on the healthcare system. It details government and non-government initiatives aimed at prevention, treatment, and management, including programs like the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and the Medicare Benefits Schedule. The report explores various needs analysis strategies, with a focus on the epidemiological approach, and discusses challenges in needs assessment, such as data quality and ethical considerations. A SWOT analysis of programs against CVDs highlights strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, providing a balanced view of current efforts and areas for improvement. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of understanding CVD to develop effective public health strategies.

Running Head: CARDIOVASCULAR DISORDERS
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Cardiovascular disorders
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5/4/2019

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Cardiovascular disorders: Overview
Cardiovascular disease is actually the term generally used to describe the diseases associated
with heart and blood vessels such as peripheral vascular disorder, coronary heart disorder, heart
failure, cardiomyopathy, stroke, and congenital heart disease. Among all the disease associated
with the CVDs coronary heart disorder is the recognised as the most common in Australian
population (Department of Health, 2017). The genetic predispositions, cultural and ethnic
background, older age are the most non-modifiable risk factors of cardiovascular diseases.
Although, there are certain other risk factors including fatness or being overweight, tobacco
consumption, lack of physical activities, poor dietary intake, and excessive consumption of
alcohol. Moreover some biomedical factors that may also contribute in causing CVD are high
BP, and increased levels of cholesterol in the blood (AIHW, 20111). Occasionally the diseases
like diabetes may also give rise for the development of cardiovascular disorders. According to
the data published by Department of Health (2017) diabetic individuals are twice likely to
develop CVD compare to the health people.
Cardiovascular disease in Australia
Even though some improvement s in last few decades, it becomes the biggest burdens on the
health care systems and economy of Australia. It has been identified that CVD is the leading
cause of expiries specifically in Australia as it accounts for 43,477 deaths in 2017. This
particular health issues kills one individual in every 12 minutes in Australia, which indicates that
on average, 119 Australian expire from this disease every day (The Heart Foundation, 2018).
The proportion of people living with this health conditions is growing each year, this is because

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the Australian populations is the aging populations and the advance treatment options available
which is ultimately leads to the people living longer life with this health condition.
A statistical data published by the AIHW (2018) indicates that CVD accounted for nearly 27 per
cent of all expiries happened in 2017 in Australia, in the year 2016 and 2017, nearly 576,000
hospitalisations has been reported. According to AIHW (2018), the rate of CVDs separations
has been flowed each year in past few decades, on an average of 2.2 per cent. According to The
heart foundation (2018), at the fact when compared with other Australian population, the
prevalence rate of Cardiovascular diseases among persons from the inferior financial gatherings,
the groups like Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals and those living in local and
remote areas are high.
Review of services, initiatives of government and currently available
programs to address CVDs:
To support the preventions, identifications, treatment methods and management of this health
issues, the Australian government and other non-government bodes are collectively functioning
by implanting different programs and services.
Some of the programs sand approaches used by Australian government to deal with CVDs are:
 Causal link between the social determinants and CVDs among the Australian people, is
being investigated by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC),
priority has been given by this organisation to advance the patient care in its strategic
plan implemented in 2012 to 2015 (The Department of Health, 2017).

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 A nationwide program entitled the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme is safeguarding
continuous provision of supports for a variety of medicines obligatory in the management
of CVD inclusive of the cures of associated indications (The department of health, 2017).
 Another countrywide program recognized as the Medicare Benefits Schedule is steadily
delivering Medicare products for patient upkeep. Moreover, health valuation stuffs have
been made accessible for risk populace which comprises: individuals of aged 45-49 years
old, 75 years and above and likewise for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals
so as to inspire early recognition, identification and intervention to address this health
issue (The heart foundation, 2018).
 Additionally, The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare is getting great provision
and resources to backing national investigation and monitoring of CVDs to support in
reducing the wellbeing, social and economic burden of these illnesses.
 Furthermore, Funding is delivered for the progress of clinical strategies to provision the
delivery of quality-practice upkeep for the people with or at risk of these health issues
(The department of health, 2017).
 According to the heart foundation (2018), enough funding is delivered to other
organisations for instance: The National Stroke Foundation and National Heart
Foundation by a variety of sources like states, territories, the Australian Government,
contributions and fund-raising undertakings.
One of the examples of an economical initiative encountering CVDs in Australian regions is
Heart Safe Community, which is targeting the protecting an individual’s life by enhancing the
survival chances in the case of heart attack outside the hospital (The Heart Foundation, 2018).
Similarly, The Heart Foundation initiates different state/territory and nationwide programs/

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movements planned to help inhibit cardiovascular disorders and enhance the superiority of life
for people living with these health issues. Specifically; Heart Foundation Walking, Jump Rope
for Heart, Heart Foundation Nurse Ambassador program (South Australia), Warning signs
movement, Go Red for Women and many more (The Department of Health and Ageing, 2017).
Nearly $8 million financial support has been provided in 2012, to the Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander heart initiative which targets to enhance the management of CVDs among the
people belongs to indigenous groups (The Heart Foundation, 2018).
Identification of Needs Analysis strategies
Needs Analysis is recognised as the systematic and clear process to identify the major
addressable issues that impacting public health (Naidoo & Willis, 2009) needs analysis is the
most essential step top bring the alteration in public health situation.
Three main strategies needs analysis that can be applied din CVDs are:
1. The comparative strategy: this particular approaches deliver the insight of the
comparing facilities being received by the people belong to the specific area with the
other regions which influence comparing and enhancements on the particular levels
that differs evidently form that delivered somewhere else.
2. The Corporate Strategy: this particular strategy depends on the organized
collections of the information and views about the informants, stakeholders,
specialists, or healthcare needs and services professional. This approach includes the
collection of information from the health care staff, provider clinicians and common
GPs including users are recognised appreciated. Moreover, it is essential specifically

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when the policies are actually sensitive to the local situations like mental health
problems (Stevens & Gillam, 1998).
3. Epidemiological and cost effectiveness strategy: According Naidoo & Willis
(2009) these approached mainly focuses on the prevalence and the affected
population size due to the problem. In simple words, it supports in setting out the
population make-up, the occurrence and incidence, present facilities obtainable, the
competence and cost viability of interventions and managements (Stevens & Gillam,
1998).
Epidemiological strategy as Ideal Approach:
For the needs assessment of CVDs this approach is considered as the best suited method as it
identifies the in-depth knowledge related to the health and disorder status in the specific
populations, helps in understand the determinants or causative aspects of the disorder occurrence,
identify and assess the efficiency of the available health intercessions thus allowing the imperil
of novel intervention (Andrew, James, & Jonathan, 1991). It has been also reported by Naidoo,
& Willis (2009), that this particular tool is effective in identifying the seriousness of the issue
among the specific groups or populations, results to inventions of noble facilities for the handling
and prevention. Use of epidemiological strategy for Needs assessment of CVD, is recognised as
the best available approach at the state level specifically as it motivates the spatial equity,
particular health facility planning, and target effectiveness. Though doing it at Nationwide level
can results in minute but important information being unnoticed as countrywide level study
require enormous data gathering, analysis and elucidation, thus lengthier to plan and apply health

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facilities. As the epidemiological assessment assists in understanding the present requirement at
the local levels and plan facility, this approach tends to be additional effective.
Strategies to assess needs linked to the CVD health at the state level:
 Conducting needs assessment survey: it includes asking the groups or society informers
or representatives from dissimilar areas what they view as the most essential
requirements of their related community by face to face meeting. As those informants are
the port of the society, they know what precisely the present problems are linked to the
CVD health that required to be addressed immediately.
 Collecting information from existing data like census, and other different public records
and critical interpretations of those information assist in determining the community
issues at priority thereby influencing the action plan or design
 Rapid participatory appraisal: epidemiologist applies this investigations method to
recognise the needs and issues of some area by applying the essential informants with the
adequate information of the region. This includes the important informants in the data
collection process by using the present data, face to face meetings and analysis. This is
recognised as the best suitable method for the local or state needs assessment. According
to a report published in BMJ (2019), it proposes the particular insights, assisting to
describe the priority problems instead of just revealing the number of individuals
impacted.
Needs analysis challenges
Certain of the challenges which can be possibly dealt throughout the needs assessment are;

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 Firstly, gaining noble quality native information on the structure and application of
health facilities might be difficulty because of lack of mutual disorder definitions,
grouping systems, and software with good compatibility
 Secondly, there is a possibility of the information and suggestions set up are being
troublesome and premature making it less. Consequently, evaluators need to make sure
suitable encapsulation of outcomes of needs analysis in approaches, evidently describing
objectives, labelling information of what, when things require to be completed.
 One of the significant challenges confronted by evaluator is difficulty confirming
effective and economical investigation as very little is identified about cost-effectiveness
of assessment.
 Need Analysis can be decisive in which unclear or under-identified problems might stay
unresolved.
 Epidemiological method of need analysis is frequently objective, and impartiality soon
extents its restrictions, detail images consequently cannot be recognized (Andrew,
James, & Jonathan 1991).
 Occasionally, some individuals do not take medical facilities in place of having threats
of the issue; this incomplete recording bounds the value of numerous databases.
 One of the main ethical defies is to make sure that the evaluator is being impartial and
moral while using data gathering method, by only gathering facts and by removing
expressive charged declarations, personal views or any other practices of judgements
which are not grounded on satisfactory confirmation.
 Some secluded or social problems which are immaterial to the analysis process tend to
misinform the analyses which worsen the result of the valuation.

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SWOT analysis of Programs against cardiovascular diseases:
Many programs, schemes, movements have been and are presently started to achieve finest level
of circulatory health thereby stopping, handling and managing cardiovascular illnesses via
nationwide, state, central or native level government of Australia. Certain of the main strengths
of nationwide initiatives for instance; The Medicare Welfares Schedule and The
Pharmacological Welfares Scheme are that they are casing nearly all the Australian populace,
serving to ensure availability to existing cures. These governmental programs are equally
concentrating on aboriginal Australian populace, impelling closing the hole. Though looking at
faults of the programs in contradiction of CVDs, regardless of beginning of various approaches
and programs to deal with the gap and advance care, it is missing a compact action plan.
Additionally, lesser responsiveness in the direction of attending cardiac reintegration for people
who survive a cardiac attack is causing secondary cardiac attacks and therefore higher deceases.
Addition of Programs for example jump rope for the heart into high school prospectus is giving
chances for young children to have healthy heart. Incapability of the distant areas or aboriginal
groups to access all the obtainable facilities and programs is generating risks of heart wellbeing
gap among the aboriginal Australian populace.
Program priorities
The primary and leading program priority must be obligatory timely noting of all the legal data
by each native body in addition to the nationwide and state government bodies. Convenience and
obtainability of updated statistics about occurrence and frequency of CVDs, likely risk factors,

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obtainable facilities and challenges assist evaluating the needs, and consequently to design.
Together with above stated initiatives there must be a solid/ committed national action strategy to
deal with such frightening illness. Though numerous programs have highlighted on inhibition of
CVDs by dropping risk aspects, Local establishments, stakeholders, administration bodies still
require putting better efforts on dealing with the initial risk factors, counting physical indolence,
fatness and high alcohol consumption. It is also essential that every program must be
interconnected well inside all the Australian bodies regardless of what regions they are situated
and henceforth should be distributed to each and every associate of all the Australian communal.