Analyzing Strategies for Closing the Child Mortality Gap in Australia

This report examines the critical issue of child mortality within Indigenous Australian communities, highlighting the significant health disparities and the efforts to address them. It focuses on the target set by the Council of Australian Governments to halve the gap in child mortality rates for Indigenous children under five by 2018. The report tracks the progress made, revealing a decline in mortality rates but a slowdown in recent years, indicating the challenges in meeting the target. It explores various strategies implemented by the Australian government, including immunisation programs, family support initiatives, and Indigenous advancement strategies, and evaluates their effectiveness. Furthermore, the report suggests improvements, such as providing nutritious food, improving housing conditions, and introducing home healthcare services, to enhance the strategies and accelerate progress toward closing the gap in child mortality. The conclusion emphasizes the need for continued efforts and strategic adjustments to ensure that the target is achieved and the health outcomes of Indigenous children are improved.

Closing the gap- child
mortality

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
BODY..............................................................................................................................................1
Tracking closing the gap target...................................................................................................1
Strategies used to ensure target is met........................................................................................3
Suggestions for meeting the target..............................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Child mortality is a serious issues within Indigenous Australians, as they are more likely
to have an early death due to various illnesses and lack of treatments. A target has been
introduced by Council of Australian Governments, in which child mortality of Indigenous
children below the age of 5 years would halve the gap in rates of mortality before 2018 (Ring
and et.al., 2016). This is an important step that has been initiated as their death is grieved by
parents, families and Indigenous Australian community for a long period of time. Health is the
physical and mental well-being of an individual with regard to social, emotional and cultural
welfare. This enables people to live to their fullest potential. This target will be tracked so that
strategies can be analysed and it can be determined whether it has been effective or not.
BODY
Tracking closing the gap target
Australian government had created a target where in, child mortality rate of Indigenous
Australians would be halved by 2018. As per the data analysed, it has been observed that
between 1998 to 2016, the rate has declined by about 35% and the gap has been narrowed down
by 32% as well. But this has not helped much in closing the gap (Infancy and Early Childhood,
2017). 82% of Indigenous child deaths have occurred in children under the age of 1, which is 1.9
times more than non Indigenous children and 53% of these deaths were due to perinatal
conditions that include birth trauma, pregnancy complications, respiratory or cardiovascular
disorders (Victora and et.al., 2016). Tracking the target has shown that even though mortality
rates have reduced by 66.7% between 1998 to 2016, it has slowed down since 2008. There has
only been a decline of 11.5%, which interprets that Australian Government is unable to meet the
target successfully.
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Illustration 1: Mortality Rates
(Source: Closing the Gap report shows life expectancy and child mortality targets are not being
met, 2017)
The main reasons for child mortality in Indigenous Australians is due to smoking of
pregnant mothers. But over the past years, there have been improvements with regard to
antenatal care and this helped reduce the mortality rates in newborns. But regardless of these
improvements, the target is not on right track. 610 of these children, aged zero to 4 years, died
and this has been mainly found in the Northern Territory of Australia with 333 out of 100,000
deaths between 2011 and 2015 (Closing the Gap report shows life expectancy and child
mortality targets are not being met, 2017). Overall, the government is trying their best to gain
positive outcomes, but it is not enough to meet the target that has been created to reduce child
mortality in Indigenous Australians.
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Illustration 2: Child Mortality Rates
(Source: Infancy and Early Childhood, 2017)
Strategies used to ensure target is met
Australian government created a target to halve the mortality rate in children of the
Indigenous Australian community. They have made various strategies that include policies,
services and facilities for Aboriginals families, so that they can meet the target by 2018. These
include immunisation of children, in which ages 0-5 are provided with vaccines by various
healthcare organisations. It helps in decreasing mortality rate by 99% as these immunisations
prevent diseases that may cause deaths in children (Cashman and et.al., 2016). Approximately
78,000 babies were saved due to vaccinations and they are proved to be effective with regard to
meeting the target of closing the gap. There has been continuous improvements in immunisation
rates in Indigenous children and will be able to reach their target of 95% in the near future.
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Illustration 3: Fully immunised children
(Source: Infancy and Early Childhood, 2017)
Another strategy which Australian government had initiated was different programs
which include Australian Nurse Family Partnership Programme and New directions Mothers
and Babies services. These provide various initiatives that support young mothers and families
by building their knowledge and skills so that they will be able to take care of their children and
promote health development. There are 124 sites that have been set up with additions done
regularly (Falster and et.al., 2015). They support Indigenous mothers by providing them with
antenatal and postnatal care as well as assistance with regard to baby care,
breastfeeding,nutrition, immunisations, infections and health checks. It has significantly helped
in spreading awareness about a child's well being and also aided in narrowing the gap while
meeting targets.
Indigenous Advancement strategies had been created by Australian government, which
aids Indigenous families in giving their children the required development, so that they are able
to live a healthy life. This strategy was initiated on July 2014, with $257 million invested for
early childhood activities, where in healthy and safe family environments are provided so that
children are able to grow as well as have access to childcare services (Hansen and et.al., 2017). It
has enabled many parents to gain knowledge of how they must take care of their children so that
there can be a decrease in mortality rate and eventually help in closing the gap in Indigenous
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Australians. Abecedarian education day care centre is an institute that aims at giving care to
those children, whose parents are unable to afford to provide them with proper education and
development (Renzaho and Oldroyd, 2014). Aboriginal Family Birthing Program is another
strategy that was created with the intent of supporting Indigenous pregnant women till their
delivery and after birth services. This ensured that a healthy baby was born and there has been a
decrease in low birthweight rates, infant mortality and reduction of smoking during pregnancy
(Parker and et.al., 2015). Therefore, Australian government created many policies and strategies
through which they could effectively achieve their target of halving child mortality rate in
Indigenous children and closing the gap by 2018.
Suggestions for meeting the target
Strategies for meeting the target of halving child mortality rate in Indigenous Australians
have been tracked and observations depict that there is still much gap left that has yet to be
closed. Even though they have successfully reduced the rate, there has been a stagnancy in
improvements and some suggestions can help in achieving this target. The government can
improve this through provision of proper diet and nutrition to pregnant women and young
children. It can help in keeping them healthy and ensure that there is a positive development
(Freemantle and et.al., 2015). A proper diet ensures that different nutrients are being provided to
an individual, which can keep them fit and healthy. This will lead to decrease in malnutrition and
eventually lower the mortality rate of children. A pregnant women requires a good intake of
fruits and vegetables so that a healthy baby can be born. Therefore nutritious food can be
provided by the government and this can significantly help to decrease low birthweight and child
mortality rates.
The Australian government can also provide families with good housing that has proper
facilities, which will ensure that there is a good environment for children and parents. This can
help in meeting the target because a clean infrastructure is essential in order to live a healthy life.
Children tend to fall ill due to a dirty atmosphere, where infections are bound to happen and this
is a main of death in them. There will be a huge difference in mortality rates of the government
invests in housing of Indigenous families, especially those with young babies and children.
Finally, healthcare facilities can be introduced in which caretaker or nurses are sent to stay with
pregnant women at their homes (Kildea and et.al., 2016). This will ensure that these future
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mothers are taken care of and they do not indulge in smoking or any sort of activities that can
harm themselves or their baby.
Nurses will be able to take care of newborn babies and help them develop in such a way
that there are no risks towards their life. Meanwhile, they can aid mothers and attend to their
needs as well as teach them the right techniques that have to be used while taking care of their
children. This will help in overall growth and development in a healthy manner and reduce child
mortality rates by 2018 (Ring and et.al., 2016). Therefore, these suggestions can be used to close
the gap, specifically in child mortality so that the target can be on the right track. The
government has successfully managed to decline the rates throughout these years and with right
strategies, they will be able to effectively achieve it.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded that Australian government has implemented various strategies for
closing the gap of child mortality by initiating a target of halving the rate by 2018. There have
been many improvements in this area, with various healthcare and development services for both
children as well as their parents. These include immunisation, birthing and nursing programs.
Even though there has been a significant decline in numerous issues between 1998 to 2016, there
has not been much effectiveness in closing the gap with the deadline close by. Provision of
proper nutritious food, housing and caretakers are some suggestions that can help in keeping the
target on track so that it can be achieved and Indigenous children's lives can be saved.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Cashman, P. M. & et.al. (2016). Closing the gap in Australian Aboriginal infant immunisation
rates--the development and review of a pre-call strategy. BMC public health. 16(1). 514.
Falster, K. & et.al. (2015). What factors contribute to positive early childhood health and
development in Australian Aboriginal children? Protocol for a population-based cohort
study using linked administrative data (The Seeding Success Study). BMJ open. 5(5).
e007898.
Freemantle, J. & et.al. (2015). Indigenous mortality (revealed): the invisible illuminated.
American Journal of Public Health. 105(4). 644-652.
Hansen, M. & et.al. (2017). Prevalence of microcephaly in an Australian population-based birth
defects register, 1980–2015. Med J Aust. 206(8). 351-6.
Kildea, S. & et.al. (2016). Improving maternity services for Indigenous women in Australia:
moving from policy to practice. Med J Aust. 205(8). 374-379.
Parker, P. D. & et.al. (2015). Will closing the achievement gap solve the problem? An analysis
of primary and secondary effects for indigenous university entry. Journal of Sociology.
51(4). 1085-1102.
Renzaho, A. M., & Oldroyd, J. C. (2014). Closing the gap in maternal and child health: a
qualitative study examining health needs of migrant mothers in Dandenong, Victoria,
Australia. Maternal and child health journal. 18(6). 1391-1402.
Ring, I. T. & et.al. (2016). Are Indigenous mortality gaps closing: how to tell, and when. Med J
Aust. 205(1). 11-12.
Victora, C. G. & et.al. (2016). Countdown to 2015: a decade of tracking progress for maternal,
newborn, and child survival. The Lancet. 387(10032). 2049-2059.
Online
Closing the Gap report shows life expectancy and child mortality targets are not being met.
(2017). [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/feb/14/closing-the-gap-report-
shows-life-expectancy-and-child-mortality-targets-are-not-being-met>
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Infancy and Early Childhood. (2017). [Online]. Available through :
<https://closingthegap.pmc.gov.au/infancy-and-early-childhood>
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