Essay Sample on Australian Closing the Gap: How to Reach Life Expectancy Target By 2031

Introduction

According to World Health Organization (2018), life expectancy refers to the average number of years one is expected to live considering the existing mortality patterns. Primarily, as a measure of health, life expectancy not only provides a comparison gauge across regions and countries but also, it is an imperative indicator of a given population's general health status. In Australia, the life expectancy at birth as of the period between 2014 and 2016 was 84.6 and 80.4 years for females and males respectively (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016). These statistics are slightly higher than the global life expectancy at birth standing at 74.2 and 69.8 for females and males respectively hence an indication an improved general health status in the country ("Life expectancy", 2018).

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However, the relatively high life expectancy in Australia conceals some rather worrying disparities amongst the population. According to the last report released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare of the period between 2008 and 2012, indigenous Australians had a life expectancy of about 10 years less than non-indigenous(AIHW,2018). Precisely, the indigenous, Aboriginal and Strait Islander males and females born around this period were estimated to have a life expectancy of 69.1 and 73.7 years respectively while the non-indigenous males and females we expected to live more 10.6 and 9.5 years respectively(AIHW,2018). The statistics for the indigenous section of the Australian population is even below the global average, which is alarming for a country ranked third among the countries with the highest life expectancy.

To address the indigenous disadvantage, the Australian government, through the Closing the Gap framework established in 2008, committed to focus on health, employment, education, and community safety by setting targets whose progress is checked annually. This essay will focus on health and more so on close the gap target in life expectancy between the indigenous and non-indigenous Australians by the year 2031. Through a critical evaluation of the milestones made in the last 10 years since the establishment, the essay will examine whether the target is still on achievement track and provide appropriate strategy recommendations to ensure the attainment of the target.

Before delving into the track-status evaluation, it is imperative to note that life expectancy at birth estimates in Australia are available every five years meaning that the most recent estimates used in this essay were published in 2013 by ABS. Basically, for the initiative to meet the closing gap target by 2031, the indigenous life expectancy has to rise by an estimated 0.6 to 0.8 years ("Healthy Lives | Closing the Gap", 2018). Digging into the national statistics archives on life expectancy at birth, between 2005- 2007 and 2010-2012, the data shows that there was only an increase of about 0.3 years and 0.1 years annually for indigenous males and females respectively. Comparing this rate of increase with the target clearly shows that the efforts to close the gap are gradually working but not faster enough to suffice the target rate. A statistical projection based on the current 0.3 years annual increase shows that the earliest the country can attain the target is the year 2045, which is way beyond the set deadline. From this data analysis, it is evident that life expectancy closing gap target is off the track hence a never for an urgent revision of the current strategies.

While the current strategies are not working fast enough to keep the life expectancy closing gap target on track, the improvement, albeit small, is important because they have been able to add a whole one year to allow the Aboriginal and Torres Strait islanders families to enjoy life with their loved ones. It is therefore imperative to explore the current strategies and examine their potential to continue improving the disparities in life expectancy among the Australian population. According to the Department of Health (2018), the Outcome 8, an indigenous health strategy emphasizing on primary health care, child and maternal health and control of substance use, is to be credited for the milestones achieved in reducing the child mortality rates and improving the life expectancy for the last decade. One of the Outcome 8 packages aimed at improving the life expectancy and fully implemented by 2013 was the Indigenous Chronic Disease Package. According to the analysis on mortality by AIHW (2016), chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, respiratory and circulatory diseases, which usually occur between the age of 35 and 74 years, were the largest cause of life expectancy gap between the indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. To counter this trend, the package, implemented by both State and Territory governments has continually reduced the burden of diseases by allocating $805 million over four years to fight against the chronic risk factors, enhance the capacity of primary care staff and improve the management of these diseases.

To reduce the rates of tobacco-related cardiovascular diseases and cancer death prevalence, the government through the National Aboriginal and Torress Strait Islander Peoples' Drug Strategy 2014-2019 has developed a strategic framework that seeks to reduce the harm caused by drugs, alcohol and tobacco. This strategy has already reduced the smoking prevalence from 50% in 2002 to 39% in 2014-2015 among the indigenous Australians hence contributing healthy benefits that will further improve life expectancy gap (AHMAC, 2017). To further show the efficacy of the smoking cessation measures implemented in 2008, an analysis by ABS(2017c) shows that there was a faster decrease in smoking initiation and prevalence in 2008 to 2015, compared to 1994-2005 period. However, while this strategy may have resulted to a reduced the burden of tobacco-related diseases in the short term, the real impact on life expectancy may take a little longer since there is a long lag time between the onset of tobacco and smoking behaviour. This phenomenon is a major contributor to the slow rate of closing the gap in life expectancy.

Without access to effective health services for the disadvantaged indigenous people, it would be impossible to close the life expectancy gap by 2031. Consequently, through the Expanding Health Service Delivery Initiative (EHSDI), the Australian government has ensured that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have increasingly gotten access to special comprehensive primary care health services tailored to meet current health challenges facing indigenous people in the Northern Territory. One of this initiative's objective, which has seen significant improvement, was to increase and achieve equitable distribution of resources to these remote communities. Precisely, the initiative was able to realize a 28% increase in funding from 2008 to 2010 which meant more money was reaching the health service providers at the grassroots for efficient service expansion ("Department of Health | 4.2 The Expanding Health Service Delivery Initiative", 2018). On the impact to service delivery, EHDI facilitated in the creation of 251 positions for the workforce in the remote primary health care facilities. The new workforce included nurses, doctors, mental health workers and managers to streamline the delivery of service to the indigenous communities in the remote areas. The availability of services such as immunization, pediatric and health screening undeniably has a positive impact on life expectancy and despite the slow rate, this initiative is definitely good for the target attainment.

Apart from the three main strategies mentioned above, the government has also established Link Up services and Bring Them Home councillors to promote the holistic health among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities by reducing loss, trauma and grief impact. This ultimately improves the quality of life and life expectancy of this disadvantaged population.

From an analytical point of view, all the above strategies adopted to bring to per the life expectancy of indigenous Australians with the non-indigenous population are long-term results based. This means that despite their effectiveness in promoting the health and reducing the burden of diseases among the target communities in the short, the intended objective of closing the existing life expectancy gap by 2031 will be a tall order because their impact is rather slow for the larger population. Consequently, there is an urgent need to revise and supplement these strategies in order to get the objective back on the track.

Fundamentally, the study findings of Zhao et al. (2013) on the life expectancy gap risk factors confirm that indeed the government is focusing on the right variables. All the main causes point to non-communicable diseases and conditions, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancers and digestive diseases, especially among the indigenous men. Now looking at the strategies adopted to remedy these causes, it evident that they emphasize more on reducing the prevalence and less on the treatment of these diseases. Reducing the prevalence, undeniably, is an excellent strategy for long-term sustainability of the objective but focusing on the treatment of these diseases should be paramount to produce short-term results. To further support the suggestion for a focus on treatment of the identified diseases, the latest report shows that chronic disease, especially cancer, remain at the top in the death causes among indigenous Australians. Astonishingly, despite the concentration on the indigenous population to try to close the gap, improvements in mortality resulting from cancer among the non-indigenous Austrians is higher than the indigenous counterparts. This shows that if the policies emphasizing on the treatment of cancer are adopted, there will be a significant improvement in the closing of life expectancy gap and within a short period of time.

In addition to the above suggestion of revising the policy focus, it is imperative to tackle the gap between political autonomy and economic resources of non-indigenous and indigenous people. As Larkins et al. (2016) confirm, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have faced historical social, economic, political and cultural disadvantages, which means their role in policy development and federal decision making especially in the critical sectors such as health has been adversely limited. To close life expectancy and other economic gaps, there is an urgent need to empower the indigenous people. This can only be done levelling the political and economic differences between the two sections of the population and allow more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in the decision-making table.

Conclusion

To conclude the essay, the above critical analysis of statistics on the life expectancy shows that though there are positive milestones made towards the closing of the current indigenous and non-indigenous gaps, the rate is very slow to realize the 2031 target. Therefore, while the current strategies implemented are essential in ensuring the long-term sustainability of the target objective, there is an urgent need to revise and supplement these programs to return back on track. Two approaches suggested is to invest and focus on treatment of the chronic disease rather than just investing in prevalence reduction and also close the political and economic gulf between the two sections of the Australian population. This way, significant results will be realized and get the target back on track.

References

AHMAC. (2017). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework 2017 Report | Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Retrieved...