PUBH643 Health Advocacy for Sustainable Development Goals

According to foodbank.org.au, out of ten people of Australian aboriginals are unable in fulfilling their basic needs. 1 out of the 3 elderly people Australian aboriginals, in 2011 and more than 23,000 of children are suffered from malnutrition

Addressing social determinants of health affecting the present situation

The current study analyses (Chalmers, 2013) the various social determinants such as opportunities for job, salary of the workers, the housing quality, the supply of food, full access to the health care and their effect on the food and nourishment within the community. The social determinants could be divided into a number of contributing factors such as education, economic status and adequate community support available to an individual. As commented by Sandoval-Almazan and Gil-Garcia (2014), the lifestyle and education status of an individual often affects their diets and health habits.

In this context, some of the social determinants affecting the food security within a population are low economy. As asserted by Kim, Kim and Nam (2014), the rates of food security are highest among the Australian aboriginal and the Torres islander community. This could be attributed to the lack of sufficient income which is governed by job security and community participation and support. The social factors are also very important in determining the course of life within an individual and community. The Australian aboriginal and Torres islander are a distinct group of people with their unique cultural history and heritage (Daun, et al. 2015). Therefore, imparting them with sufficient education can help in the prevention of propagation of wrong health beliefs within the community.

Additionally, the geographical location of an individual often governs the opportunities and the options available to them. In this context, distance from supermarkets or retails chains can also affect the accessibility issues within a specific segment or target population as it involves a huge amount of costing in the transportation. Apart from food security, availability of sufficient nutrition is another governing factor controlling health prospectus (Liu, Wright & Wu, 2015).

The presence of malnutrition within a community could also be related to factors such as poverty and lack of sufficient education (Cordell, & Neset, 2014). Therefore, participation and support from state and federal governments along with health care agencies can play an effective role over here. For the purpose of regulating the food crisis in region farming and agricultural practices need to be given importance. In this respect, the factors affecting the sustainability of farming practices have been divided into various parameters such as – production oriented, resource use oriented, investment, community and marketing oriented (Snyder & Diesing, 2015).  As commented by de Andrade et al., (2015), the lack of sufficient investment for promoting the sustainable agricultural plans along with lack of the inculcation of modern technology within the farm practices can affect the produce and its quantities. The lack of sufficient amount of cash or credit to the farmers can also affect the produce, thus resulting in food scarcity (World Health Organization, 2014).

Analysis of the problem situation (WPR framework)

The problem situation could be further analysed with the help of the ‘What’s the Problem represented’ (WPR) to be framework. Here in this assignment the main problem issues in the economically backward classes are the hunger and some strategies to reduce the hunger issues by providing free access to the people, by raising funds from the government and educating the peoples about the sustainable farming. The framework consists of a number of questions which helps in understanding the extent to which the social determinants can pronounce its effect on the problem situation.  The WPR framework helps in understanding the problem situation using a set of six questions. The very first question inquires about the problem situation, which in the present context is lack of food security and problems encountered in the establishment of sustainable agricultural practices. The second question investigates the problem, which could be attributed to a number of factors such as poverty and lack of support from the state or federal governments.  As commented by Benach et al., (2014), the representation of the problem is often multifaceted and could be accounted to a number of social factors.

The growing concerns of food scarcity along with issues of malnutrition have been seen to affect health of an individual. In this context, poor nutrition has been affecting the health in particularly the Reports the evidences have suggested that the Australian aboriginal community have poorer health and lower life expectancy compared to the other Australian races. The evidences point at a gap of 11.5 years in the average life expectancy of the aboriginal males and 9.7 years compared to aboriginal Australians. As asserted by (de Andrade et al. 2015), 80 % of the preventable disease such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases could be prevented by adequate nutrition and health literacy policies. The fourth question highlights the aspects which has been left uncovered in the analysis and needs subsequent attention or redresser policies.  As commented by Hofman et al., (2015), the government and national policies has neglected nutrition as one of the governing factors influencing upon the health of people. The fifth question analyses the effects produced by the problem which could be estimated in the qualitative as well as in the quantitative sense. The loss in the production value of the land and food crops results in a situation of food scarcity.

Outlining a theory of change in achievement of the objectives

The theory of change could be applied in meeting with the objectives of food security and agricultural sustenance. The ‘theory of change’ is an outcome based approach which applies critical thinking in designing, implementation and evaluation of programmes intended at supporting change within the required contexts. As commented by Mitrou et al., (2014), the theory is built upon the parameters of reflective practice for bringing about social change and empowerment. The development of grassroots initiatives to donor agencies in developing countries have found to be effective in bringing about the required change (Hofman et al., 2013). The theory of change consists of a number of subsequent parts which could be divided into – outcomes and preconditions, indicators, interventions leading to relevant outcomes, assumptions, rationales and narratives.

The current assignment focuses upon the establishment of sustainable agricultural practices within the current Australian scenario. For which a number of theories and frameworks could be applied, one of them being the ‘theory of change’. It is a logical framework aimed at the helps in the achievement of the objectives and aims through pre-designed set of activities. Here, a sustainable agricultural network (SAN) could be established for achieving the objectives of food security and ending hunger within the current population. The SAN used to develop and manages the standards of the sustainable agriculture and manages the quality of the rural producers. As commented by Nan and Madden (2014), a number of effective programmes such as Rainforest Alliance could be implemented to improve farming practices and management.

Thus, conducting farmer training and certification programmes could help in improving the agricultural production which can significantly contribute towards ending food scarcity. The goal is to contribute towards the prevention of biodiversity along with enhancing the profit and the productivity ratios. The profits earned helps in the establishment of a feedback loop where more and more agricultural based companies could be pulled in to invest more realizing the importance of sustainable sourcing (Chalmers, 2013).

Analysis of the power objectives of the issue

In order to develop a sustainable agriculture and food systems a number of goals and objectives needs to be formulated (What are the main goals and objectives?? you didnt mention them anywhere so plz mention them). The rapid growth of population puts a constant pressure on the food resources (How? Research Articles), thus surplus production rate needs to be achieved. As asserted by McGinty et al., (2016),  positive and transformative changes within the global agricultural and food systems can be used to improve food availability options by making human being healthier. The management of population growth, food losses and unnecessary wastage of food can help in protecting natural resources against unreasonable exploitation(Where did you get this information? research articles? citations) In this context, the objectives of transformative change (What kind of change?) could be applied for meeting the objectives of sustainable environment. The transformative changes emphasise that the behaviour of the different stakeholders (Who are the stakeholders in your context?? mentions them and explain how they are helpful or their roles) are changed aiming towards the achievement of sustainable agricultural practices. However, one of the major issues which are faced over here is meeting the high productivity at the same time establishing the environmentally sound practices (World Health Organization, 2016). (So what is the solution for this?) In this context, the uses of pesticides have been increased considerably owing to the large scale demand of healthy and pest free harvest. However, excessive uses of pesticides and insecticides have resulted in chemical runoff in the water bodies. These have been seen to contribute to incidents of biological magnification which also possess health risks for the living communities.

Therefore, the power objectives(What are these objectives?) should be to develop conventional agricultural strategies by the implementation of organic crops. Thus, organic farming is one of the most accepted standards for sustainable agriculture(how can you say this ?? any evidence or articles favouring these statements??). One of the primary goals is also to end hunger and provide the children with sufficient nourishment or nutrition. Therefore, the goal or the strategy was to develop genetically modified crops (GMOs). The GMOs help in meeting the macro and micro mineral deficits of within the population. However as argued by Benach et al., (2016), the GMOs have been seen to increase the dominance of superbugs and super weeds.  Additionally, they have been seen to demand more use of pesticides and insecticides which results in phenomenon of eutrophication and biological magnification. Therefore, in the present context establishment of sustainable agricultural network along with sufficient help and support from the government can help in meeting the objectives.

In this paragraph, u are talking about so many things at a time such as organic crops , modified crops and superbugs . There is less relations. how can these things end hunger ?? there is no answer to these questions. and what are the strategies for sustainable agricultural plan. it is better if you give a plan or strategy to develop sustainable agricultural plans like governmental funds for crops, pesticides, manpower. as far as I know to end hunger in poor countries is to end poverty or increase food production by the country itself or provide sufficient food to the target population where hunger is more, provided economic help as well . there are so many things missing in these assignments. you dont have much citations in the statements.

Conclusion

The current assignment focuses on the concept of establishing health advocacy along with determining the social determinants which has a pronounced effect on major health and social outcomes. Though the social determinants comprise of a number of factors including employment, education and economic factors which affects community and individual health attributes. However, in the present context food and agricultural sustainability have been taken into consideration.  In this respect a number of factors act as hindrances in the establishment of optimum health and social equilibrium as far as objectives of food scarcity are concerned. Therefore, the problems and issues faced by the Australian aboriginal and Torres islander group have been presented over here.  This part of the population had been seen to have higher disease and mortality rates. This could be attributed to lack of community support along with lack of sufficient knowledge regarding positive health habits and practices.

In this context a WPR framework could be followed for understanding the problem situation where at most six questions have been asked to analyse the contributing factors and estimate the measures which could be implemented for coping with the problem situation. Further the theory of change could be established with the help of the sustainable agriculture network (SAN) for meeting with the issue of food scarcity along with taking care of biological

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