Social Close Gap Social Justice Campaign †Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Social Close Gap Social Justice Campaign? Answer: Introducation: The closing the gap policy was introduced by the Australian government with an aim to reducing the discrimination faced by the Australian aboriginal and Torres island people. The motive behind the implementation of the policy was to provide equal opportunities to the Aboriginal and Torres islander people. Thus, the policies aimed at reducing the disadvantages with respect to poor life expectancy, increased rate of mortality in children, reduced exposure to compulsory education levels. The policy was passed in response to the drafting of the Social justice report, 2005 and close the gap social justice campaign. The Aboriginal Australians were also known as the indigenous Australians. They were the first inhabitants of the main land Australia and had a unique culture and language of their own. These people held strong spiritual connections towards their land and made their living through agriculture and farming. However, the colonisation of the Australian mainland by the Britishers had diverse effects of the culture and survival of the indigenous Australians. The British under the leadership of Thomas Cook took possession of the land inhabited by the indigenous Australians. Additionally, they also removed the white children from their aboriginal ancestries. This resulted in a situation of political unrest and discrimination towards the aboriginal Australians management. In March 2008, the aboriginal and Torres island people agreed to sign a treaty with the Australian government to gain equal health standards between the aboriginal and Torres island group (Michael et al. 2017). The council of Australian government (COAG) laid down a number of policies to meet the target health requirements of the aboriginal and the Torres islander people. The targets had been broken down into a number of components. The policies aimed at reducing the mortality rate of indigenous children below within a decade. As mentioned by Browne, Hayes Gleeson (2014),the policy was also put into action in order to ensure that free and basic education is provided to the children of indigenous origin. The education was seen as an important consortium through which equal employment opportunities could be provided to the aboriginal and the Torres island group. The gap recorded between indigenous and non-indigenous life expectancy at birth had been noted as 11.5 years for the males and 10 years for the females. As per the data recorded, the expected life expectancy at birth of the indigenous Australians was recorded at 69.1 years for males and 73.7 years for females. This was 10.6 and 9.5 years lower than that of the non-indigenous Australians respectively. Moreover, above 65 % of indigenous deaths were found to occur before the age of 55, compared to only 19% in the non-indigenous Australians (World Health Organization 2013). The government plans to close the gap with regards to the availability of the basic amenities such as a positive and healthy environment for optimum growth and prosperity of indigenous children. In this regard, the Population Health Research Network (PHRN) was setup by the Australian government to collect important and vital health related information from across the nation. This helped in the drafting of important policies for bringing about improvement within the health context of Australian aboriginal and Torres islander children. Thus, the SANT data link was established in 2009 to conduct important population based research and provide relevant data links to the government for further policy marketing and analysis (World Health Organization 2013). The close the gap policy has significant contribution in the life of the events of the aboriginal and the Torres island people. The main aim of the campaign was to close the gap between the aboriginal and the Torres island people with regards to life expectancy and better social inclusion policies. The close the gap program was formulated with main emphasis upon the human rights and privileges possessed by the indigenous Australians. The successful implementation of the program helped in ensuring that the infant mortality rates are controlled along with improving the life expectancy of the indigenous Australians. As mentioned by Parker Milroy (2014), the indigenous Australians such as the aboriginal and the Torres island group had to face severe discrimination due to their unique language and different cultural aspects. The aboriginal and the Torres island people had been forcibly removed from their land due to British colonisation. However as argued by Sibthorpe et al. (2017), the people shared a strong cultural and spiritual connect with their land. Thus, the British colonisation had a disruptive effect on the communal identity of the aboriginal and Torres island group. There had been a constant fight ever since for the basic rights and privileges between the Australian indigenous and the non-indigenous groups. As mentioned by Lannigan (2016), there had been no considerable reforms in the government policy making with respect to the indigenous Australians. However, as commented by Parker Milroy (2014), the implementation of close the gap policy would help in bringing about important constitutional reforms. The changes implemented would help in meeting the educational and health requirements of the deprived group. Thus, the policies may help in incorporating social inclusion of the Australian aboriginal and the Torres island group. Ear diseases have been highly prevalent in the Australian aboriginal and the Torres Strait islander children. As commented by Kilcullen, Swinbourne, Cadet?James (2016), high rates of hearing impairment have been noted in the Australian aboriginal and Torres islander children. This may be attributed to a number of factors such as overcrowding of household, passive smoking, premature birth, bottle feeding and malnutrition. The profound ear diseases found in the indigenous children have been widely due to otitis media. The disease has been found to occur within weeks of the birth of the child and may continue into adulthood. As commented by Stoneham, Goodman, Daube (2014), the hearing impairmentbusiness may lead to delay in speech and educational attainment of the child. The close the gap policy had been put into effect to provide additional infrastructure for the prevention and treatment of such diseases within the children. Thus, programs such as Haemophilus influenzea type b (hib) vaccination, neonatal screening along with and antibiotic treatments help in the management of such conditions. The close the gap programme helps in incorporating some of the prerequisites for the prevention and control of the otitis media in the indigenous children. Some of the effective measures such as routine health check up help in early analysis and provision of suitable remedial solution. The policy advocates the implementation of The Child Hearing Health Coordinator Program. The program ascertain that a case management model of service delivery is followed where the coordinator in-charge provides for a communicating and effective service retrieval channel between the children and the specialists. The close the gap program had contributed significantly in improving some of the basic amenities such as food, nutrition available to the indigenous group. As commented by Lannigan (2016), the implementation of the policy in 2009 had helped in removing the perils of racial discrimination faced by the indigenous group of people. The Close the Gap program further supported the conduct of the systematic review in 2006. The reviews were aimed at addressing the issue of racial discrimination and promote respect for cultural diversity along with removing the barriers to the access of adequate health services. A number of challenges are faced in the implementation of the Close the Gap program. The challenges are faced across multidisciplinary channels. One of the prime challenges faced by the government is to regularly and accurately monitor key health indicators. As commented by Dobia Roffey (2017), incorrect recording of the census might also affect the quality and timely availability of health care services to the indigenous group of people. The five year gap between the census data collection often affects the depiction of the true picture of the changes. However as argued by Panaretto et al. (2014), additional hindrances may be faced in implementation of close the gap program. The program aims at bringing more and more people within the benefits of education cover and improved health services. The language and cultural paradoxes of the indigenous Australians are different from the modern day white Australians which further intensifies into racism and discriminatory behaviours. Reports and evidences have suggested that only 1% of workforces working in health care are of indigenous origin and. Additionally, they are provided with greater amount of resistance from the white Australians practising in healthcare such as the nurses and midwives among others. This often result into discriminatory behaviour at workplace and larger communication gaps between the indigenous health professionals and the white Australians. On a concluding note, the close the gap program has the potential of neutralizing the racial and communal discrimination that the indigenous Australians had been subjected to. In this respect, implementing the policy would have been fruitful in achieving the targets aimed at reducing the social distresses suffered by the indigenous Australians. The implementation of the policy would help in meeting the educational as well as the health needs of the indigenous Australians. The current essay discusses the perils of Otitis media in damaging the hearing of the indigenous Australian children. The concern is grave and could be addressed with the conducting of neonatal screening. However, the implementation of such programmes is based upon sufficient help and support from the government along with community participation. However, lack of knowledge often becomes a limitation in achieving the target. Additionally, regularly monitoring the health care services often becomes a limitation on th e part of the government. This might be attributed to the gaps within the data collection process. The Australian aboriginal and Torres islander group possess a huge amount of cultural and social myths. In their culture health issues are rather seen as a matter of privacy and should be kept confidential. Thus, such false beliefs held by the people often make the delivery of service difficult. However, reports and evidences have suggested that with the implementation of the model a huge number of infant mortality rates had been brought down. Repeated and authentic data collection procedures helps in accessing the improvements brought about in the life expectancy of the indigenous Australians. References Browne, J., Hayes, R. and Gleeson, D. 2014. Aboriginal health policy: is nutrition the gapin Closing the Gap?,Australian and New Zealand journal of public health,vol. 38, no. 4, pp.362-369. Dobia, B. and Roffey, S. 2017, Respect for CultureSocial and Emotional Learning with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Youth, InSocial and Emotional Learning in Australia and the Asia-Pacific, Springer, Singapore, pp. 313-334. Education 2017, education , viewed on 24 August 2017, https://www.education.gov.au/using-latest-data-help-close-gap-indigenous-disadvantage Kilcullen, M., Swinbourne, A. and Cadet?James, Y. 2016, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Healthcare and Well?Being: Implications for a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Framework,Australian Psychologist,vol. 51, no. 6, pp.453-462. Kim, W.C. and Mauborgne, R.A. 2014,Blue ocean strategy, expanded edition: How to create uncontested market space and make the competition irrelevant, Harvard business review Press, London. Lannigan, F. 2016, Australian Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Chronic Ear Disease,The Journal of Laryngology and Otology,vol. 130, no. 4, p. 25. McCann, P. and Ortega-Argils, R. 2015, Smart specialization, regional growth and applications to European Union cohesion policy,Regional Studies,vol. 49, no.8, pp.1291-1302. Michael, H., Highden-Smith, S., Mitchell, S., Bryce, V., Grugan, S., Crick, C., Renouf, S., Stanford, E. and Wang, W. 2017, A Safe and Cost Effective Solution for Closing the Gap Medication Supply on Discharge from a Tertiary Public Hospital,Heart, Lung and Circulation,vol. 26, no. 9, p.329. Panaretto, K.S., Wenitong, M., Button, S. and Ring, I.T. 2014, Aboriginal community controlled health services: leading the way in primary care,Med J Aust,vol. 200, no.11, pp.649-52. Parker, R. and Milroy, H. 2014, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health: an overview,Working together: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health and wellbeing principles and practice,vol. 2, no. 2, pp.25-38. Sibthorpe, B., Agostino, J., Coates, H., Weeks, S., Lehmann, D., Wood, M., Lannigan, F. and McAullay, D. 2017, Indicators for continuous quality improvement for otitis media in primary health care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children,Australian journal of primary health,vol. 23, no. 1, pp.1-9. Stoneham, M., Goodman, J. and Daube, M. 2014, The portrayal of Indigenous health in selected Australian media,The International Indigenous Policy Journal,vol. 5, no. 1, pp.1-13. World Health Organization 2013, Closing the health equity gap: Policy options and opportunities for action.