Closing the Gap is a strategy of the government which performs the function of reducing the disadvantages among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in terms of child mortality, life expectancy, educational achievement, access to early childhood education and employment outcomes. The basic purpose of this strategy is to bring the required improvements in the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians (Boyle & Eades, 2016). Australian government has made formal commitments for the purpose of achieving health equalities within a period of 25 years. Measurable targets have been set by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) for monitoring change and improvements in the wellbeing and health of Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal Australians. In the context of child mortality, the target is to halve the gap in child mortality by the year 2018. Closing the gap targets for child mortality will play an important role for improving the health by adopting a holistic approach. Remote community members wish to see a health growth of their children but are continuously facing barriers to access nutritious and affordable food. They will be offered the needed access to health services which will improve their health over a period of time (Marmot, 2011). This essay is focused on ‘closing the gap’ target related to child mortality and discusses a strategy for keeping the target on track.
Child mortality can be defined as the death of children who are under 14 years of age and includes under 5 mortality, neonatal mortality and mortality of children between the age of 5 and 14. The 2016 Indigenous child mortality rate (0- 4 year old) was within the range such that it can easily meet its target by the year2018 (Doyle, 2015). In other words, it can be said that the target is on track. This can be depicted by the figure below:
Figure 1 Child Mortality Rates
(Source: Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, 2018)
A sudden increase in the deaths of Indigenous child in the year 2015 was noticed, however, the rate returned back to normal in the year 2016 such that the target can be met easily. The Indigenous child mortality rate declined to 146 deaths per 100,000 in the year 2016 from 214 deaths per 100,000 in the year 1998. This means that there was around 35 per cent reduction in the Indigenous child mortality rates during the period 1998 to 2016 (West, Usher & Foster, 2010).
During the year 2012 to 2016, infant deaths (less than the age of one year) amounted to approximately 82 per cent of the Indigenous child deaths (0 -4 year olds). The infant mortality rate of the Indigenous people was double the rate of non- Indigenous people during the said period. 53 per cent of the deaths constituting more than half of the deaths in this group were the result of perinatal conditions including complications of pregnancy, fetal growth disorders, birth trauma, cardiovascular and respiratory disorders (Baynam, Pearson & Blackwell, 2016).
There was a decline of approximately 66.7 per cent in the Indigenous infant mortality rate during the period 1998 to 2016. This can be depicted as the change to 6 deaths per 1,000 live births from 13.5 deaths per 1,000 live births. The narrowing of gap amounted to 84.5 per cent. The remaining child deaths (18 per cent) were the early childhood deaths i.e. the deaths of children between the ages of 1- 4 years. The early childhood mortality rate was noticed to be highly fluctuated during 1998 to 2016 (Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, 2018).
Perinatal conditions are regarded as the single largest cause of Indigenous child mortality and accounted for 43.5 per cent of Indigenous child deaths during the year 2012 to 2016. This cause also resulted in 42.7 per cent of the child mortality gap between non- Indigenous and Indigenous. Child mortality is also the result of various other causes such as ill- defined and sudden conditions like Sudden Infant Death Syndrome that result in 17.9 per cent of the deaths and injury and poisoning (12 per cent) and congenital malformation (12.2 per cent of 0- 4 year old deaths) (Martin, 2017).
The target is on track because the government is making the use of certain strategies for this purpose. The Australian Government has introduced a number of programs in order to prioritize investment in maternal and child health. For example, $ 94 million funding is being invested for the Better Start to Life approach over 3 years starting from July 2015. This will lead to the expansion of two existing programs i.e. New Directions: Mothers and Babies Services Programme and the Australian Nurse Family Partnership Programme (Pritchard & Wallace, 2015).
A number of early childhood initiatives are funded by the Indigenous Advancement Strategy (IAS) for the purpose of supporting parents, young mothers and families including parenting classes, facilitated playgroups, outreach and home visiting programs. Skills and knowledge of the Indigenous parents are enhanced with the help of these activities along with promoting healthy development of children. New Directions: Mothers and Babies Service (NDMBS) program has facilitated its expansion to 124 sites from 85 sites. Moreover, further expansion of the program has been planned for additional 12 sites which will make the total to 136 sites. Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal children along with their mothers are continuously being supported by NDMBS. The program is providing postnatal and antenatal care access to children and their mothers along with assistance and practical advice with breast feeding, standard information regarding body care, parenting and nutrition, infections and immunization, monitoring of developmental milestones, health checks and treatments for children before attending school (Fraser, Sidebotham, Frederick, Covington & Mitchell, 2014).
It is suggested that Australian Government should undertake the integrated management of childhood illness (IMCI) for under 5 year old children. This strategy will act as the integrated approach to health of children and will focus on their well- being. It will further aim at reducing illness, death and disability along with promoting improved development and growth of children under the age of 5 years. Both curative and preventive elements will be included in this strategy the implementation of which will be facilitated by communities, families and health facilities. The strategy will be based on three main components namely bringing improvement in the overall health system, improving health practices of the community and family and improving skills related to case management of the health care staff. This strategy is also promoted by the World Health Organization for the reduction of child mortality. The progress of the target will be on track as the strategy will help in promoting the accurate and timely identification of childhood illness and ensuring the treatments for all the major illnesses, increases the speed of referrals of severely ill children and supports the counselling of caretakers. Appropriate care seeking behaviors are promoted in the home setting along with preventive care, improved nutrition and accurate implementation of prescribed care (World Health Organization, 2015).
Coordination will be required among the current health programmes and services for the effective implementation of IMCI strategy for improving the health and reducing child mortality. It will further require working closely with ministries of health and local government for the purpose of planning and adapting the principles of approach to the given circumstances. Furthermore, support mechanisms will need to be developed within communities such that diseases can be prevented and families can be supported while caring for their sick children and getting them to hospitals and clinics when required. For this, care should be upgraded in the local clinics by way of provided training to the health workers such that they can examine and treat children through new methods. Upgraded care will also be made possible with the help of this strategy by ensuring the availability of simple equipment and appropriate low- cost medicines (Morawska, Calam & Fraser, 2015).
Therefore, it can be concluded that currently, closing the gap target to halve the child mortality gap by the year 2018 is on track. The period between the year 1998 and 2016 led to a great decline in the Indigenous child mortality rates by 35 per cent. Furthermore, narrowing of the gap has been noticed (by 32 per cent). However, slow progress is being observed since the 2008 target baseline. It is further expected that the past improvements in the key drivers of maternal and child health will lead to future gains as well. The strategies currently used by the Australian Government prioritize investment in maternal and child health. It is suggested that Australian Government should undertake the integrated management of childhood illness (IMCI) for under 5 year old children. This strategy will act as the integrated approach to health of children and will focus on their well- being.
References
Baynam, G. S., Pearson, G., & Blackwell, J. (2016). Translating Aboriginal genomics—four letters Closing the Gap. The Medical journal of Australia, 205(8), 379.
Boyle, J., & Eades, S. (2016). Closing the gap in Aboriginal women’s reproductive health: some progress, but still a long way to go. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 56(3), 223-224.
Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. (2018). INFANCY AND EARLY CHILDHOOD. Retrieved September 16, 2018 from https://closingthegap.pmc.gov.au/infancy-and-early-childhood
Doyle, K. E. (2015). Australian Aboriginal peoples and evidence-based policies: closing the gap in social interventions. Journal of evidence-informed social work, 12(2), 166-174.
Fraser, J., Sidebotham, P., Frederick, J., Covington, T., & Mitchell, E. A. (2014). Learning from child death review in the USA, England, Australia, and New Zealand. The Lancet, 384(9946), 894-903.
Marmot, M. (2011). Social determinants and the health of Indigenous Australians. Med J Aust, 194(10), 512-3.
Martin, W. (2017). Passing the buck-Has the diffusion of responsibility for Aboriginal people in our federation impeded closing the gap?. Brief, 44(9), 28.
Morawska, A., Calam, R., & Fraser, J. (2015). Parenting interventions for childhood chronic illness: A review and recommendations for intervention design and delivery. Journal of Child Health Care, 19(1), 5-17.
Pritchard, C., & Wallace, M. S. (2015). Comparing UK and other western countries’ health expenditure, relative poverty and child mortality: are British children doubly disadvantaged?. Children & Society, 29(5), 462-472.
West, R., Usher, K., & Foster, K. (2010). Increased numbers of Australian Indigenous nurses would make a significant contribution to ‘closing the gap’in Indigenous health: What is getting in the way?. Contemporary Nurse, 36(1-2), 121-130.
World Health Organization. (2015). MDG 4: reduce child mortality. Retrieved September 16, 2018 from https://www.who.int/topics/millennium_development_goals/child_mortality/en/
Essay Writing Service Features
Our Experience
No matter how complex your assignment is, we can find the right professional for your specific task. Contact Essay is an essay writing company that hires only the smartest minds to help you with your projects. Our expertise allows us to provide students with high-quality academic writing, editing & proofreading services.
Free Features
Free revision policy
$10Free bibliography & reference
$8Free title page
$8Free formatting
$8How Our Essay Writing Service Works
First, you will need to complete an order form. It's not difficult but, in case there is anything you find not to be clear, you may always call us so that we can guide you through it. On the order form, you will need to include some basic information concerning your order: subject, topic, number of pages, etc. We also encourage our clients to upload any relevant information or sources that will help.
Complete the order form
Once we have all the information and instructions that we need, we select the most suitable writer for your assignment. While everything seems to be clear, the writer, who has complete knowledge of the subject, may need clarification from you. It is at that point that you would receive a call or email from us.
Writer’s assignment
As soon as the writer has finished, it will be delivered both to the website and to your email address so that you will not miss it. If your deadline is close at hand, we will place a call to you to make sure that you receive the paper on time.
Completing the order and download