Health Promotion and Education of Refugees in Victoria

This report delves into the critical aspects of health promotion and education for refugees in Australia, particularly concerning latent tuberculosis (TB). It begins with an introduction highlighting the unique health challenges faced by refugees and the importance of tailored public health strategies....Read More

Running Head: HEALTH PROMOTION
HEALTH PROMOTION
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
Throughout Australia, refugees are faced with different conditions from those of the
general population. Migration is a key driver of tuberculosis (TB) in many low incidence
settings, with most TB cases being due to overseas reactivation of latent TB (LTBI). A better
understanding for LTBI peril in the heterogeneous migrant communities would help the
health plan (Masters et al., 2018). Australia's average prevalence of LTBI is low. Some
residents, particularly migrants from high incidence settings, may have significantly higher
LTBI risk, and these findings require tailor-made public health strategies to reduce the risk
and impact of potential TB disease.
Health promotion allows individuals to gain influence over their own health. This
covers broad range of social and environmental initiatives aimed at improving and protecting
the health and quality of life of individuals by identifying and avoiding the root causes of ill
health, not only by focusing on prevention and cure (Benjumea et al., 2019). Health
promotion involves officials across all agencies to transform health into a core policy line of
government. It ensures that they have to affect health implications in all the decisions they
make and promote policies that prevent people from getting sick and to protect them from
any injury (Dale et al., 2018). Health literacy on the other hand, helps the individuals to get
the skills, knowledge and correct information regarding the disease that would assist them to
make healthy choices.
Planning health promotion
The program that is used for the treatment and health promotion of TB among the
Australian refugees involves the National Tuberculosis Advisory Committee and their
associated work plan. The first goal is to ensure the control of TB through the treatment,
rapid diagnosis and spreading awareness about TB (World Health Organization., 2019). The

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objective of such a goal is to ensure treatment facility to all the people at correct times and
the spreading of awareness among the individuals regarding the disease. The next goal
involves the improvement in the surveillance and reporting of the disease. Under this goal the
main aim is to ensure that all the cases of TB are being reported at correct time and are
recorded at the data system for future reference (Www1.health.gov.au., 2019). The next aim
is to reduce the prevalence of the disease among the individuals who are native to Australia.
This will help to reduce the transmission within Australia. Another goal of the work plan is
the reduction of the difference rate among the native and the refugees in Australia. It will
help the refugees and the health care team to enhance the program for the reduction of the
burden of the disease (Bharmal et al., 2015).
The SMART goals and objectives for the control of the disease are stated below
S Specific Reduction of prevalence of TB
among Australian refugees
M Measureable To determine the rate of
reduction of TB
A Acceptable To involve the refugees and the
healthcare staff to work on the
health promotion program
R Realistic To conduct the health
promotion program at different
places in order to involve large
amount of refugees
T Time-bound The program will be conducted
for 1 year at different places
around Australia.
As the health promotion is aimed to reduce the burden of TB among the refugees it is
important that the refuges have proper knowledge about the disease, thus, the first
intervention for that will be to conduct the health education classes for them at different
places round the year (Ayton et al., 2016). This will help them to stay up-to-date with the
recent advances in the schemes that have been designed by the government in order to help
them. The second intervention will include the screening of the refugees for the presence of

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the bacteria or to know any another symptom of the disease (Masters et al., 2018). This will
help to easily identify the risk groups and to separate them from the remaining population
that will reduce the chances of the spread of the disease. The last intervention will be the
supply of various medicines that are needed for the control of the medicines. This is required
as the refugees are not able to complete the course of medication due to poor economical
status (Neiger et al., 2012).
Doctors have been listed as the number one source of reliable health care data by
community members. But training sessions and participants in healthcare workers showed a
doubt about the capacity of general practice to provide testing and treatment. The other
stakeholders include the nurses and the allied healthcare professionals (Denholm, McBryde &
Brown, 2012). These populations are affected by the health promotion program as they have
the responsibility to reduce the risk of the disease. These stakeholders will emphasize on the
fact that the refugees d not have the sufficient knowledge regarding the disease and thus, it is
very important to promote health literacy among them (Schell et al., 2013). Thus, in order to
achieve the goals and objectives of the health promotion program the healthcare professionals
will focus on the spread of the awareness among the refugees.
Implementation
The health promoters need to plan for the various ways that will help them to achieve
their goal. This will include the methods to teach the refugees, the ways to make them
understand the importance of hygiene, medication and healthy food (Golden & Earp, 2012).
In order to accomplish all of this the health promoters need to consider their language, belief
and culture. They also need to address their social, economic, political, environmental
problems. Thus, the healthcare staffs needs to have an upstream approach for the completion
of the program (Lupton, 2012).

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Upstream approaches and initiatives focus on improving basic social and economic
systems with the goal of removing obstacles and enhancing services that allow people to
achieve their full health potential (Baum & Fisher, 2014). Scientific and political interest in
rising socioeconomic and racial or ethnic disparities in education and health status is
important. Most of the policy aim to reduce health inequalities has been focused on
improving access, coverage, efficiency and healthcare severity (O'Mara, 2012). Health,
however, is more a function of living and working conditions than of healthcare. Successful
efforts to improve health and reduce health inequalities need to focus more on addressing the
social determinants of health inside and outside the healthcare system (Health Workforce
Australia., 2013).
Thus, the interventions in the healthcare system should focus on the social
determinants of health along with the policies in the upstream approach that involves the
factors such as housing, increased socioeconomic status, and neighbourhood conditions.
These policies and interventions can cause an increase in the health (Lee, Sulaiman &
Thompson, 2013). There are social health inequalities for the onset of disease as well as the
frequency and development of disease. These are generally larger for the latter and those that
happen within the health care system are the measures needed to prevent disease progression.
In order to bridge the gap it is important that the healthcare professionals educate the refugees
to improve the conditions of their neighbourhood (Dara et al., 2013). They should also tell the
refugees regarding the various schemes launched by the government in order to help them by
getting a job or admission in schools and colleges. Social and economic policies affecting the
quality of life and living conditions of families and societies, as well as the economic
resources available to households, can also have a direct impact on health. Further attention
must be paid to the systematic analysis of social and economic policies that could have health
consequences (Lacerda et al., 2014).

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The logic model is a graphic representation or road map showing the shared
relationships for your system between resources, activities, outputs, outcomes and effects.
This shows the relationship between the actions of your system and its expected impact.
System logic models are used to explain how to produce the output (Wieland et al., 2013).
The philosophy of the system is used to establish intermediate targets and increase the
chances of public health interventions being successful. This approach requires researchers
and collaborators to coproduce expertise.
The program analysis must follow explicitly the program logic model underlying the
preparation of our initiative, the assessment of progress in achieving the goals and objectives
of the initiative, its constituent activities and procedures, and the interrelationships between
the elements of the initiative as set out in its program logic model (Dara et al., 2013). It is
proposed that health promotion should focus on a common set of goals, principles and
strategies. The standard logic model is proposed for the preparation and assessment of health
promotion programs to fit this particular perspective (Alkin, Vo & Hansen, 2013). A logic
template is useful for an action being designed, implemented and evaluated. This helps
participants reach agreement during the planning process on both short-term and long-term
goals, identifies objectives and players, and develop specific evaluation criteria during the
project.
Evaluation
In order to keep an update about the improvements in the logic model it is important
to evaluate the model (Neiger et al., 2012). This will help in the analysis of the effectiveness
of the proposed model. Thus, to evaluate the program the healthcare staff should emphasize
on the process, impact and outcome of the plan. In order to check the process of logic model
there should be a way of understanding the purpose of the map (Alkin, Vo & Hansen, 2013).

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The purpose or mission should focus on the fact or factors that are important to the refugees.
This will help the health promoters to know the ways in which the treatment process can
impact the refugees. This will also help in the planning of the treatment process for the
patients who are suffering from TB among the immigrants (Neiger et al., 2012).
The next step for evaluation is to assess the outcomes or results of the logic model.
This will include the analysis of the changes after the implementation of the program model.
This will help the health promoters to know whether the program is working fine or it
requires certain changes (Denholm, McBryde & Brown, 2012). However, at the time of
evaluation it should be kept in mind that the model has certain long terms as well as short
term goals. Thus, the outcomes should be assessed as per the goals. There can be certain
changes that might cause the feedback loop which can further complicate the situation and
prevent the complete analysis of the outcomes or results of the logic model (Baum & Fisher,
2014).
The next step to analyse the logic model is to assess the impact of the program. This is
dependent on the goals that can be short or long terms. Thus the impact can also be seen as a
short term effect or long term effects (O'Mara, 2012). This can be explained by the help of an
example in which the health promoters help the refugees to understand about the disease
process that will be beneficial for them in the long run as it will help the refugees to
understand the process, symptoms, causes and preventive steps to further prevent the spread
of the disease.
Sustainability
The health promotion program should be planned in such a manner that it is
sustainable (Dara et al., 2013). This will help the health promoters and the other stakeholders
to bring a deep impact on the healthcare policies. Thus it is important that the healthcare

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professionals maintain the sustainability in order to ensure that all the individuals are getting
the benefits of the program as well as that the program can be conducted every year (Neiger
et al., 2012).
In order to do this it is important that the government ensures to help the health
promoters supporting their cause financially. This will give an additional boost to the health
promotion. Public health projects can only bring benefits if they can maintain operations over
time (Alkin, Vo & Hansen, 2013). The basis for sustainability may be related to the ability of
a system to maintain its operations and benefits over time. The system identifies areas for
decision-makers in the field of public health to explore when designing and implementing
strategies for prevention and intervention.
Ideally, a program should maintain various elements over time, including its
programs, relationships at community level, institutional processes, benefits to its customers,
and the salience of the core issue of the program (Schell et al., 2013). The viability of
programs for health promotion and disease prevention also depends on the program's
perceived value and the funding those individuals and organizations are willing to engage in
ongoing operations. Sustainability can be accomplished by ongoing commitment to the goals
and purpose of the program, increasing capacity in local systems, evolving awareness and
behaviors, ongoing cooperation, enhancing service models, and implementing new policies
that support program effects (Golden & Earp, 2012).
Health promotion or disease prevention efforts must focus on the following when
preparing for sustainability that involves identifying potential obstacles to sustainability and
overcoming those strategies, identification of potential leverage opportunities and draw on
current goals, policies and initiatives, early in the development phase, recognizing and
seeking broad funding opportunities. Sustainable financing and funding models are

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particularly important for initiatives to improve rural health and prevent disease (Lupton,
2012). Since health promotion and disease prevention approaches support population health
outcomes improvements, one sustainability strategy is to develop or recognize funding
models that support population health improvements. These include forms of compensation
based on values and/or alternatives. Alternative payment models transform treatment by
focusing on improved quality, value, and health outcomes (Dara et al., 2013).
Conclusion
Thus, it can be concluded that the health promotion programs for the refugees have a
serious impact on their healthcare status. A number of immigrants who come to Australia
tend to suffer from TB due to lack of proper resources and also due to the unavailability of
certain healthcare services. This acts as a barrier for the successful implementation of the
program. The program should also focus on the fact that the healthcare services are also
affected by the social determinants like economy, surrounding environment, housing and so
on. So, the health promoters should incorporate the upstream approach while dealing with
such refugees. This will help them to identify the differences in the culture, tradition and
beliefs of the refugees. This will ultimately affect the entire health promotion program and
the program will also turn out to be very inclusive of all the refugees.
The next thing that should be taken care of while performing health promotion is to
measure the sustainability of the health promotion. This will affect the outcome and impact of
the designed program. The evaluation of the health program can be done by the use of the
logic model that can help in the assessment of the various components of the health
promotion program for the prevention of the TB among the refugees. Hence, it is important

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that the refugees should be made aware about the disease in order to mitigate the spread of
the disease.

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References
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of evaluation theory.
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Appendix
Logic Model for Tuberculosis Control Effort
Aim or Objective: To enhance the health and well-being with a collaborative support to lower the rate of tuberculosis
Condition: Eroding the infrastructure for public health, community mistrust of the government, susceptibility of the
new diseases like HIV/AIDS to TB, increase in the rate of immigration from the places where the occurrence of TB is
high, higher rate of incarceration that create new ways for the transmission of the disease, the certain strains of TB
that become drug resistance
Inputs/Resources
 Trained staff
 Health info
system
 Clinical lab
 Pharmacies
Activities
 Identify the
TB cases
 Identify
contacts
 diagnose the
local causes
Outputs
The number if individual
beginning the treatment
The number of people
completing treatment
Effects
Cure of infected person
Reduction in number of
TB
Improved health status