According to the reports as of last year, it was seen that Queensland showed the highest number of cases of syphilis which had begun from the year of 2011 (Aboriginal Health Council SA 2018). It was also reported that the most of the victims were below the age of 29 years, showing elevated rates of suffering from the sexually transmitted diseases. The problem that exists now is that who should be responsible for the amendment of this situation and what action should be taken in order to do so?
Occurrences of the sexually transmitted infections (STI) have been seen to cause a significant effect on the health and well-being of the population. Talking in the context of Australia, STI has effected majorly the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals residing in different regions of Queensland (Health.qld.gov.au2018). They have shown to suffer from short term as well as long term consequences of their reproductive health. Considering STIs, the most common infection that has affected this population is Syphilis. The incidents related torecurrence of Syphilis encompassed a range of outbreaks as wereacknowledged across theNorth Queensland Hospital and Health Services (HHSs) (Jongen et al. 2014). They testified the incidence of congenital syphilis, thereby calling for the need of synchronized regional reaction to amendincidence of the disease among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islandes. This disease is more common in men of the age group of 40 to 44 years (Health.gov.au 2018).
A report presented the STI rates that is prevalent in Australia which showed that sexually transmitted diseases have been found more prevalent inrural parts of Australia. It also declared that men who are engaged in sex with men, show more incidences of STI, especially the ones belonging to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander background (Graham etaal. 2013). Apart from Syphilis, prevalence of the following sexually transmitted diseases is also recorded (Health.gov.au 2018). This includes:
Chlamydia: This disease is one of the most curable STIs. The risk group falls between the age group of 15 to 24 years. 80% of STI cases are found among people belonging to this age group (Panaretto et al. 2014).
Gonorrhoea: The incidence rate of gonorrhoea shows an annual increase. It accounted for65 individualsknown to be diseased,out of 100,000 people, in 2011 (Adam et al. 2014).
HIV: Men in the age group of 30 to 34 years have been found to reportmaximum HIV rates at 18 per 100,000 person (Yeung et al. 2014).
Genital Herpes: Not commonly identified as a notifiable disease by nature, the true sum of infested individuals isfrequentlyproblematic to assess. Nonetheless,it is probable that one out of eight personsmight carry the virus (Reekie et al. 2014).
Hepatitis B: The hepatitis B virus is spread sexually viaintensely or habitually infected folks. The incidence rateof this disease is maximum in countryside Indigenous inhabitants and migrantswho are received from other countries to Australia, where the ailmenthas been identifiedprevalent (Musil et al. 2016).
Human Papilloma Virus: Prevalence of this infection is reducing dramatically in parts of Australia,as there have been HPV vaccination programmes established (Couldwell and Lewis, 2015).
Trichomonas: This infection caused by bacteria, is mainly seen to occur in inaccessibleand provincial regions of Northern Australia. This infection most commonly affects Indigenous females (Fagan, Cannonand Crouch 2013).
The pre-existing policies in regards to addressing the high rates of STI prevalent among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons in Northern Queensland includes the establishment of ‘North Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sexually Transmissible Infections Action Plan 2016-2021’ (Health.qld.gov.au2018). The objectives of the action plan involved elimination of STI, especially inherited syphilis among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, residing in North Queensland by the end of December 2017. The plan also focused onregulation of syphilis outbreaks in the North Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population by December 2020 (Kang, SkinnerandUsherwood2010). Moreover, the plan also put an emphasis on reducing theprevalence of chlamydia, syphilis, and gonorrhoea amongstthe Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders of North Queensland. Implementation of the planassistedin ensuring a maintainable as well aninclusive sexual health service in the province of North Queensland. This was implemented through anenterprise with the local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander societies (Wand et al. 2016).
One such program which can be implemented in the given context is the STRIVE. This along with the sexual health quality improvement program (SHQIP) might be implemented, in order to deliver primary health care services to address STI prevalence. This has just been carried out as a trial cluster (Ward et al. 2013). Implementation of a pilot study for this project might help the health ministry to govern whether directedprovision to health facilitiesis adequate torealizeenhancementsin a considerableway, in order todeliversexual health clinical amenities in isolated Aboriginal populations. Additionally, this will help in resolving whether the attainmentof greatest practice levels inrelation to clinical action is able to lessen the occurrence of treatable STIs in these remotesocieties (Gudka et al. 2013).
The ministry might also consider development of programs that engages the young people of the indigenous community. Development of a clinical capacity that successfully addresses the STIs along with the blood borne diseases is required. Such programs are required to be implemented in order to raise the awareness among the communities regarding STI prevalence and educate the people about it (Wand et al. 2016). Most of these people lack resources by which they would get to know about the diseases.
Considering the disadvantages or the limitations of the given considerations, suggestions might be provided to improve the programs, so that they are more significantly able to address the prevalent situation. In terms of engaging the younger people in the implementation programs consideration should be given to the proper training to these younger individuals. It needs to be ensured by the health ministry that he health workers receive proper guidance especially in the remote places (Wand et al. 2016). There should be an on-going training procedure to improve the building capacity as well as retention of the staff. This is also applicable for the other health workers as well since it had been found that many workers are unwilling to participate in such programs. For improving the sustainability of the programs proper communication in terms of outbreak advice is required to be relayed to the workers (Ward et al. 2013). This can be done through Commonwealth networks which can include the GP Roundtable. Long term actions are needed to be taken by the ministry to ensure sustainability. The health department might consider opportunities to improve sexual health education in schools for 13-19 year olds. This can include a long term plan of starting sexual health education from age 10 (Chow et al. 2014).
Ward, J., McGregor, S., Guy, R. J., Rumbold, A. R., Garton, L., Silver, B. J., … and Law, M. G. 2013. STI in remote communities: improved and enhanced primary health care (STRIVE) study protocol: a cluster randomised controlled trial comparing ‘usual practice’STI care to enhanced care in remote primary health care services in Australia. BMC infectious diseases, 13(1), 425.
This article discusses the interventions namely then STRIVE in order to control the degrees of sexually communicable infections in distant Australian Aboriginal groups that is seen to be quite high. With the use of a clustered randomised trial in STI care in remote Aboriginal health facilities, this intervention was carried out. The results show that experiment will provide indication to inform upcoming culturally fitting STI clinical care and regulationpolicies in societies with high rates of STI.
Kang, M., Skinner, R., and Usherwood, T. 2010. Interventions for young people in Australia to reduce HIV and sexually transmissible infections: a systematic review. Sexual Health, 7(2), 107-128.
This article appraises intervention plans that intend to decrease the incidence and spread of HIV and STIs amid young individuals in Australia. Proactive STI testing in non-clinical and health backgroundseemspracticable and realizes developed testing rates than general practice.
Fagan, P., Cannon, F., and Crouch, A. 2013. The young person check: screening for sexually transmitted infections and chronic disease risk in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth. Australian and New Zealand journal of public health, 37(4), 316-321.
This paper describes the application and nominated outcomes of the ‘Young Person Check (YPC)’, in north Queensland,directingdistant youth for sexually transmissible infections (STI). Positive results were described that showed correct participation and data administration.
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