Public Health and Health Promotion - Case Study Example

IMPORTANT RESPONSE IN PUBLIC HEALTH AND HEALTH PROMOTION By Name Course Instructor Institution City/State Date Important Response in Public Health and Health Promotion Shape Up Australia Shape Up Australia is an Australian National Preventive Health Agency (ANPHA) initiative that seeks to address Australia increasing obesity as well as the overweight epidemic (ANPHA, 2013). According to ANPHA (2013), Shape Up Australia intends to decrease the impact and prevalence of chronic disease related to lifestyle by bring together nationwide efforts so as to well manage and strengthen obesity prevention undertakings and healthy lifestyle across every non-governmental and governmental sectors. Moreover, Shape Up Australia is decreasing replication of effort and expenditure across both non-government and government by sharing market resources as well as research, providing co- opportunities for branding partnership so as to support services as well as messages, and promoting a countrywide approach that is evidence based and reliable to prevention messaging about obesity and overweight, and to diminish community misperception with regard to lifestyle and healthy eating (ANPHA, 2013). This initiative is currently operational with co-branding cohorts from public health government and non-government organisations, state governments, organisations promoting community based health, and Medicare Locals, each using m resources and messages about healthy lifestyle created by means of national formative research for Shape Up Australia. Without a doubt, the obesity epidemic is one of the greatest public health challenges challenging Australia together with scores of other developed countries. According to AIHW (2012), Australia is leading nations in terms of overweight, with more than 60 per cent of adults and 25 per cent of children are obese or overweight. Statistically, obesity and overweight prevalence has been gradually growing in the last three decades. As mentioned by Department of Health (2009), obesity is predominantly prevalent amongst women and men in the most underprivileged groups such as Indigenous Australians and immigrants. Department of Health (2009) posits that dealing with obesity is rooted in reshaping individuals’ behaviours for positive environmental outcomes of dietary richness that serves both the emotional and aesthetic needs in addition to nutritional necessities. Basically, alcohol and food play a crucial part in the life’s social fabric, and only educating persons or pursuing a prohibitionist approach is improbable to be appropriate or successful. Shape Up Australia was initiated for health issues associated with obese and overweight. Considering that they impose significant financial burdens on communities, families, and persons. Society all together swallows the financial burden with estimates showing that the total cost of obesity to Australian governments as well as society was $58.2 billion US dollars in 2008 only (Department of Health, 2009, p.6). Besides that, obesity was related to more than four million lost days from Australian place of work in 2001 considering that obese and overweight workers are inclined to be more absent from work because of illness as compared to non-obese labour force. Therefore, Shape Up Australia was espoused as a modification strategy for sustainable lifestyle, which is obviously required so as to address cardiovascular risk factors attributed to obesity and overweight (ANPHA, 2013). Past initiatives and programs were successful, but were limited by resources as well as time. However, Shape Up Australia has lately resulted in the formulation of new advertising campaign for obesity prevention by the Queensland Government, re-creation of the Get Healthy telephone service campaign by NSW government, Ways to Well-being, a social marketing campaign all by means of the setting up of Shape Up Australia developmental study as well as messaging resources (AIHW, 2012). The National Binge Drinking Campaign In reaction to the prevalence of binge drinking amongst the youth, the Department of Health and Ageing in 2009 inaugurated a National Binge Drinking Strategy worth $53.5 million so as to raise awareness concerning the costs and harms related to risky single occasion drinking (RSOD) amongst young Australians Gemert et al. (2011). The major constituent of this initiative was a twenty four months mass media campaign worth $20 million for behaviour change as well as harm minimisation. Initiated late in 2008, the promotion, targeted younger generation in Australia aged between 15 and 25 years together with their parents. The campaign merged numerous mass media strategies as well as outlets, which fascinate and are utilised often by teenagers, which includes cinema, television, Internet advertising, radio, as well as out-of home print advertisements like street posters and postcard (Gemert et al., 2011). The images in the campaign exhibited scenes of teenagers consuming alcohol trailed by a scene exemplifying a harmful effect of alcoholism for the same teenagers as well as a figure on the consequences and harms of RSOD pertinent to that scene. According to Gemert et al. (2011), various media strategies were put into practice simultaneously a few months subsequent to the launch of the campaign; however, more information concerning the definite coverage and frequency of distinct media strategies are not accessible publicly. Without a doubt, harm related to alcohol consumption is the increase in morbidity as well as mortality in Australia, resulting in almost 65,000 hospitalisations as well as 3,000 deaths annually. For instance, between 2004 and 2005, the yearly cost of social problems related to alcohol to Australian community was valued at $15.3 billion (Department of Health, 2009). Alcohol after tobacco is the second leading contributor to harm related to drug use in Australia, resulting in injurious effects. Acute harm, short term effects are associated with the danger of instant injuries from alcohol consumption like injuries, accidents, as well as bodily harms, while chronic harm indicates the harmful bodily effect of the lengthy consumption of alcohol. In general, the main causes of deaths related to alcohol consumption are road trauma, alcoholic liver cirrhosis, as well as cancer; but, all long-term effects vary by stage in life (Department of Health, 2009). Adolescents/teenagers tend to die from sessions of road trauma or alcoholism, whereas the older persons tend to die from conditions associated with long-term misuse of alcohol. As mentioned by Department of Health (2009), alcohol has turned out to be more and more available in the previous twenty years, and harms attributed to alcohol drinking amongst young persons has tremendously increased in Australia. For instance, alcohol is accountable for more drug-related hospitalisations and deaths for individuals aged between 15 and 34 years as compared to all other illegal drugs grouped together. In this case, the intention of the Drinking Nightmare Campaign was to bring awareness about the costs and harms related to alcohol consumption, as well as to individually deliver pertinent messages so as to motivate, encourage, as well as support the key target groups in order to change their behaviour (Gemert et al., 2011). The National binge drinking campaign included: a social promotion campaign that was operational for more than two years and challenged teenagers concerning the consequences as well as costs of binge drinking. Furthermore, a $7.2 million program backed partnerships for community with non-government and sporting organizations so as to completely impact environments, which can shape the binge drinking culture amongst teenagers. Furthermore, the campaign consisted of $5.2 million in capital invested for the growth of Australian Drug Foundation’s Good Sports initiative so as to support domestic sporting clubs to create a responsible drinking culture at the local level. Moreover, the campaign included a $19.1 million in finance for supporting state-of-the-art early intervention as well as programs for diversion so as to identify teenagers below 18 years who are taking part in alcohol-associated activities (Australian Department of Health and Ageing, 2014). As mentioned by Gemert et al. (2011), resources were generated for both the educators as well as general public as part of the promotion. These entailed brochures named Alcohol and young people: a guide for parents that were written in numerous languages, information on alcohol secondary supply and drinking spiking, and materials for teaching. Stop the Rot The initiative steered by Public Health England (PHE) seeks to exhibit how smoking ‘rots’ the inner body. According to teeth Public Health England (2014), the campaign utilises study exhibiting that tobacco toxins damage the body’s main system, which includes eyes, brain, muscles, and. Smoking according to PHE results in steady and slow decline in body functionality, akin to rotting. The print as well as graphic online adverts features a roll-up cigarette crammed with a body tissue that is decaying. Moreover, the campaign is rooted in a professional assessment ordered by PHE emphasizing the various effects that numerous deadly constituents in cigarette smoke may bring to the body. Even though majority of smokers understand the damage that smoking does to their lungs and heart, they are not aware of the negative effects caused by smoking to other body parts. For instance, cigarette smoking negatively impact bone density, and also can bring harm to the bones and muscles, which includes slower healing, higher fracture risk, increased neck and back pain, and higher rheumatoid arthritis risk. Present smokers have high risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and also getting tooth decay ad oral cancer. Smoking as well increases the cataracts risk and the risk of developing macular degeneration associated with age is augmented by more than 80 per cent. For this reason, the campaign handles common fallacies around roll-ups or hand-rolled tobacco considering that roll-ups utilisation has significantly increased (Public Health England, 2014). For instance, in 1990, 2 per cent of female smokers and 18 per cent of male smokers used to smoke hand-rolled cigarettes and this has increased to 23 per cent for women 40 per cent for men in 2013. Scores of smokers erroneously deem that manufactured cigarettes are less harmful as compared to; however, empirical evidence suggests refute the claim. Basically, smoking of cigarettes is the leading cause of premature death as well as illness in the United Kingdom. Besides that, almost 100,000 individuals die annually in UK because of smoking. Deaths related to smoking are mostly because of heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and cancers (Patient.co.uk, 2011). Nearly 50 per cent of smokers die from diseases related to smoking and the life expectancy for long-term smokers is averagely ten years less as compared to that of non-smoker. In the United Kingdom almost 80 per cent of non-smokers live beyond 70 years, but just 50 per cent of long-term smokers live more than 70 years. According to the campaign, scores of deaths attributed to smoking are not speedy deaths; for instance, if one develop COPD gets distressing symptoms prior to his/her death. According to Patient.co.uk (2011), smoking heightens the risk of developing numerous other diseases, scores of which are less fatal, but may result in years of unfriendly symptoms. Stop the Rot Campaign begun as a novel professional review that was commissioned by PHE that highlighted numerous effects that cigarettes’ toxic ingredients had on the body of smokers. Whereas majority of persons know that smoking leads to heart and lung related disease, the PHE report exhibited how smoking also damages muscles and bones: smoking negatively impact the mineral density of the bone, and results in continuous harm to the musculoskeletal system (GASP, 2015). According to PHE report, smoking results in 25 per cent of increased fracture risk, as well as a 40 per cent increases risk in hip fractures amongst men. Smoking leads to slower healing, and injury lead to increased risk of neck and back pain, causing a 79 per cent increase in protracted back pain, as well as a 114 per cent increase in rheumatoid arthritis, in addition to a decrease in the treatment impact. Smoking also affects brain: present smokers are 53 per cent more probable to get cognitive impairment as compared to non-smokers, as well as 59 per cent more probable to get Alzheimer’s disease in the future (GASP, 2015). PHE report also points out that smoking results in a chances of tooth decay or loss and also damages eyesight by heightening the risk of age-related cataracts as well as age-related macular degeneration. With almost 75 per cent of smokers desiring to quit smoking, PHE utilised adverts graphically to demonstrate the rotting brought about by smoking. Moreover, the campaign intended to handle common misunderstandings concerning roll-ups or hand-rolled tobacco. References AIHW, 2012. Overweight and obesity. [Online] Available at: HYPERLINK "http://www.aihw.gov.au/overweight-and-obesity/" http://www.aihw.gov.au/overweight-and-obesity/ [Accessed 8 April 2015]. ANPHA, 2013. Shape Up Australia. [Online] Available at: HYPERLINK "http://www.anpha.gov.au/internet/anpha/publishing.nsf/Content/shape-up" http://www.anpha.gov.au/internet/anpha/publishing.nsf/Content/shape-up [Accessed 8 April 2015]. Australian Department of Health and Ageing, 2014. National binge drinking campaign: Don't turn a night out into a nightmare. [Online] Available at: HYPERLINK "http://www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/key-resources/programs-projects?pid=1176" http://www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/key-resources/programs-projects?pid=1176 [Accessed 6 April 2015]. Department of Health, 2009. About the campaign. [Online] Available at: HYPERLINK "http://www.drinkingnightmare.gov.au/internet/drinkingnightmare/publishing.nsf/Content/about-the-campaign" http://www.drinkingnightmare.gov.au/internet/drinkingnightmare/publishing.nsf/Content/about-the-campaign [Accessed 8 April 2015]. Department of Health, 2009. AUSTRALIA: THE HEALTHIEST COUNTRY BY 2020. Technical Report. Sydney: Department of Health National Preventative Health Taskforce by the Obesity Working Group. GASP, 2015. Newsflash: ‘Stop the Rot’ – new hard-hitting campaign from Public Health England. [Online] Available at: HYPERLINK "http://www.gasp.org.uk/health-education-resources/newsflash-stop-the-rot-new-hard-hitting-campaign-from-public-health-england/" http://www.gasp.org.uk/health-education-resources/newsflash-stop-the-rot-new-hard-hitting-campaign-from-public-health-england/ [Accessed 8 March 2015]. Gemert, C.v. et al., 2011. The Australian national binge drinking campaign: campaign recognition among young people at a music festival who report risky drinking. [Online] Available at: HYPERLINK "http://lr.library.uq.edu.au/items/0B99782A-2170-7CD8-A408-3D5045041448.html" http://lr.library.uq.edu.au/items/0B99782A-2170-7CD8-A408-3D5045041448.html [Accessed 8 April 2015]. Patient.co.uk, 2011. Smoking - The Facts. [Online] Available at: HYPERLINK "http://www.patient.co.uk/health/smoking-the-facts" http://www.patient.co.uk/health/smoking-the-facts [Accessed 8 April 2015]. Public Health England, 2014. Stop the rot: new campaign highlights how cigarettes ‘rot’ the body from the inside. [Online] Available at: HYPERLINK "https://www.gov.uk/government/news/stop-the-rot-new-campaign-highlights-how-cigarettes-rot-the-body-from-the-inside" https://www.gov.uk/government/news/stop-the-rot-new-campaign-highlights-how-cigarettes-rot-the-body-from-the-inside [Accessed 8 April 2015]. Read More