Aboriginals And Torres Strait Development – Health Status And Services Issues

Health status issues

Discuss about the Aboriginals and Torres Strait Development.

The description of local communities assessing development of the communities. The analysis focusses on health development within the area. The local governments of areas such as city of Rockingham, town of Kimwana,city of Mandurah and the shrines of Murray and Waroona. The Perth South Coastal Medicare local focus on ensuring development of health care within the areas. The communities collaborate with other partners to ensure improvement of healthcare. The findings focus on the demographic composition of the communities such as age, income and employment. The demographic analysis assist in understanding health issues among various groups. Moreover, the services within the communities also help in explaining development of health services. Services mentioned include those that assist in improving health quality. This includes safety measures such as recreational centres and physical activities that improve health. The research addressed the requirements of ageing and a population that grows fast. The Perth South Coastal Medicare local aims at improving health standards within the communities (Barrett, 2013).

The population covers the local administrations of Kwinana, Mandurah, Murray, Rockingham and Waroona (Bensley, 2009). The area has a wide diversity, which includes both rural and urban with cities within the areas of Kwinana, Mandurah and Rockingham. There are coastal people living along Indian Ocean while others live inland practicing agriculture. The local governments provide infrastructure and other necessary services. The areas have however have a challenge in getting health services due to their remoteness. The area of service delivery is a point of concern for the government with the need to provide better services. The population numbers increase very fast being at 225000 currently with a forecast to increase to 300000 by 2020. The population consists of younger people compared to older individuals. However, there is a more significant population at the age above 65 years. The female population ranks high compared to male composition (Bensley, 2009). The employment situation includes a high proportion of blue-collar workers who prefer the rural lifestyle. The families include both young and old retirees and pension receiving individuals.

Additionally the health sector is poor with more people with chronic diseases, low immunisation, poor maternal and child hood health. The poor health results from poor economic status. The low education levels within the area cause lack of job qualification and result to low incomes. The population comprises a variation in culture backgrounds. The population is made up of both English and non-English speaking people. The large percentage of the population speaks English made up of immigrants from countries such as United Kingdom. Fewer people speak other languages apart from English most being immigrants from Netherlands and India (Chisolm, 2007).

Services issues

The private and public sector combine to provide health service to the communities (Christina, 2008). The local government tries to avail health services to the people living in towns and rural areas. However, the local government seek help from external partners to provide health services. The area has four hospitals each equipped with beds, general practitioners and nurses. There are also mental health units equipped with beds and other necessary equipment. Additionally there are homes for the aged and children health care centres. The local health facilities also provide other services such as physiology, physiotherapy, dental service and chiropractic services. These services play a huge role in meeting the health needs of individuals within the locality.

There are challenges on health services caused by increasing population. The health services fail to increase with increase in population. The city of Mandurah and City of Rockingham lacks adequate general health practitioners and other health facilities. Moreover, challenges exist in accessing after hour health services since most are located in cities. This makes accessing difficult for the rural inhabitants who lack motor vehicles.

The city of Kiwana people visit general practitioners more often compared to the rest. The explanation given for this is the more cases of chronic illnesses among Kiwana people (Coplan, 2011). Additionally, health status checked on age basis, there are more sick females compared to males. The city of Mandurah and Shrine of Murray record more patients above the age of 75 years.

The communities suffer from various chronic illnesses with numbers increasing as population increases. The common chronic illnesses include musculoskeletal system disease, respiratory diseases, circulatory diseases, arthritis and asthma. The rate of people suffering from respiratory diseases increase continually due to the high rate of smoking.

The communities with the locale involve in activities that risk their health such as smoking. The city of Kwinana records high smoking rates thus high exposure to respiratory diseases. There is a higher tendency for more males to smoke compared to females. Smoking poses a great threat to the health of individuals such as cancer, heart problems, loss of life and poor health among the smokers. Additionally obesity risks the health of the individuals causing heart diseases and cancer. Fewer males suffer from obesity when compared to other Australian population males. However, females suffer more from obesity when compared to other Australian females (Fertman, 2010).

In addition to that, the alcohol consumption within the locale surpasses the average Australian drinking rate (Fertman, 2010). This behaviour causes exposure to health threats such as crime, accidents, mental and physical problems and causes a rise in preventable disease rates. Lack of physical activities poses a huge threat to the population since it causes obesity and diabetes. The most affected individuals come from the city of Kwinana with higher levels of inactivity than the average Australians do.

Mental health also affects the communities with more males having mental and behavioural problems. However, females too reflect mental and behavioural problems. The women showed mood issues at a higher rate when compared to the men. The city of Kwinana had more psychological distress cases compared to other cities. Mental health and chronic illness most affect females in the cities of Kwinana, Mandurah and Shire of Murray (Hodges, 2011).

The local governments offer services to better health status in the localities (Roth, 2010). The governments get assistance from private sectors and the local communities. The health services offered include cancer screening to curb cancer caused deaths. Additionally the government offers maternal and child hood health services. These services include post and pre-natal care to pregnant mothers and baby immunisation. The youth receive tailor made services to suit their needs and illnesses affecting them most. However, the local governments provide infrastructural services to improve health. The local governments avail transport services to assist rural individuals’ access health services in cities. Additionally the government offers lifestyle modification programmes such as fitness centres to help individuals stay physically active.

The information collection happened through various interactions with the communities (Scott, 2007). The research involves interviewing the communities on various issues related to health. The communities participated fully in the interviews making it easy to gather needed information. The information helped in getting conclusions on the health status of the communities. Additionally, questionnaires played an important role in the research where the communities answered questions related to the research. More information came from observation of how the communities carried about their health life. Observation assisted establish the effects of chronic diseases such as diabetes and obesity. Community gatherings also played a huge role in identifying the health situation within the localities. Information gathered from social places helped to understand the health situation among the communities.

The information gathering process involved various activities. The research involved familiarity with the communities and environments during the first phase. This helped in avoiding hostility from the inhabitants and coping with the weather conditions. The second phase involved laying down plans to collect data and collection of the data. This involved various methods such as interviews and questionnaires. The other activities involved analysis of the data collected which and making of conclusions. The data showed poor health conditions within the catchment areas and drastic action was required for improvement. There is great need to treat chronic illnesses such as diabetes, obesity and respiratory illnesses. The information also exposed the need for the government to assist the individuals in leading healthier lives. The government could build fitness centres and counselling centres to prevent stress caused illnesses. Additionally there is need to invest more funds to health in order to build more hospitals and equip the existing hospitals. The local people should also keep off harmful habits such as smoking and drinking alcohol (Videto, 2011).

The catchment area enjoys the benefit of living along the coast of Indian Ocean. The community could use the Indian Ocean to do trade with overseas countries. Trade with overseas countries could improve the economy of the catchment area (Teena, 2010). The local governments should work on developing trade ties with overseas traders to improve trade along the Indian Ocean. Additionally, the local governments should use the advantage of living together along the coast to create a bond among the communities. This bond could help in developing together and result to economic success when the communities join hands in economic development.

Conclusion

The catchment areas find themselves isolated by other Australian individuals and rag behind in development. The health services in the areas fail to address the increasing population and rising number of diseases. The local governments should seek aid from external partners to help in improving health services. Additionally the local people should participate in improving the health standards. The local governments should ensure that the infrastructure build protects the health of the individuals. The individuals in the locality should restrain from harmful habits such as smoking to prevent them from respiratory diseases. The locals should focus on ways to improve their health services (Scott, 2007).

References

2012, A. H. (2012). Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework . Canberra.

Barrett, S. (2013). Consumer Health. McGraw Hill.

Bensley, R. J. (2009). Community Health Eduaction Methods: A Practical Guide. Jones and Bartlett.

Chisolm, S. (2007). Health Professions. Jones and Bartlett.

Christina, A. P. (2008). Advancing Health Literacy: Framework for Understanding and Action. Jossey – Bass ,Inc.

Coplan, S. (2011). Project for Health Care Information Technology. McGraw Hill.

Fertman. (2010). Health Promotion Programmes. Blackwells Publishers.

Hodges, B. (2011). Assessment and Planning in Health Programmes . Jones and Bartlett.

Roth, P. M. (2010). Core Concepts in Health Brief. McGraw Hill.

Scott, R. (2007). Guide for New Health Care Professionals. Jones and Bartlett.

Teena, L. W. (2010). Problem Based Learning in Health and Social Care. Wiley Blackwell.

Videto, B. H. (2011). Assessment and Planning in Health Programmes. Jones and Bartlett.