Can we end the persistent inequities in the Australian health system ?

Let’s fix the health deficit through a more equitable distribution
 
Dr Ayman Shenouda
 
Highlighting inequity
 
The alarming population growth in our major cities is not surprising and highlights a lack of a national population planning approach for sustainable development.
 
This issue has been in the news recently and these conversations for me always highlight inequity and missed opportunities. There is usually fallout in distributional terms for rural Australia which continue to be left behind. This is despite the fact that rural areas don’t even get a mention in the discussion.
 
The lack of rural focus is the underlying problem here with no attention to the broader spatial dimensions which result in increasing inequities. This is a much bigger issue than the inconvenience of the long city commute to work. It’s about the fair distribution of impacts to bring about more equitable outcomes.
 
Persistent disparities
 
In prioritising health, we know a community’s economic health is closely tied to health outcomes. There are persistent inequities in Australia and particularly in our remote Aboriginal communities.
 
Returning from the Solomon Island’s recently and talking to a colleague about the plight of the people in the Pacific, I was reminded that some remote communities in Australia are worse than Third World.
 
To get to the bottom of the causes of health disparities you need to look to the social determinants of health. Invest in policies which protect those factors which stretch a range of personal, social, economic and environmental factors and you will get results.
 
Rural health disparities
 
The converse is, of course, true and this is why we have such marked health disparities in rural areas.
 
There is an estimated health deficit of $2.1 billion in rural and remote Australia.[1]
 
The impact in health terms is that rural Australians are living shorter lives and they have poorer health outcomes and higher rates of disease. The more remote you go, the worse it is.
 
It is the compounding effect that impacts here - where we see high levels of socio-economic vulnerability combined with lack of access to services.
 
In addressing these issues, health workforce distribution is of course key to enabling access but so is getting to the bottom of what’s driving the disadvantage.
 
Causal factors
 
We need to focus on the value of working across sectors to address those causal factors.
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It is those causal or upstream factors – social disadvantage, risk exposure and social inequities – that present the real opportunities for improving health and reducing health disparities.[2]

These powerful determinants of health inequality are why we need to put the spatial dimension back into population planning. More collaborative planning is needed to address the unique needs of these communities.
 
Rural health investments
 
Part of the planning discussion needs to focus on the role that rural health investments have creating healthy and sustainable communities. There is a failure to recognise the comprehensive impact of health care funding as a driver for local economic development. [3]  

I know from my own experience that just bringing a health service to an area will help to sustain it. When I established my practice at The Rock the medical facility was being run out of a rented room in the CWA building.
We worked hard to not only establish our practice but build the required broader health service around us. Through our sustained efforts the pharmacy soon followed, then a pathology service and now finally an aged care facility.
 
The economics of poor health
 
We know all too well the economic effects of poor health.
An investment in rural health boosts these local economies. A fairer health budget spend would realise strong returns and a healthier future for 30 percent of our population.

But, it is not just a rural issue as there are pockets of disadvantage elsewhere including in our cities and on the fringes and of course in regional centres as well.

Whether in urban or rural areas, pockets of entrenched disadvantage will remain unless we start to align health and causal factors in national planning.
 
Fixing the health deficit
 
We need to fix the health deficit through a more equitable distribution.
In planning for a healthier Australia, a much broader focus is required which targets and acts on those upstream determinants.
It’s not just medical care alone that influences health with social factors known powerful determinants of health.[4] This is the formula for a healthy Australia.
 
[ends]
 

[1] NRHA Fact Sheet. The extent of the rural health deficit. National Rural Health Alliance. 2016. http://ruralhealth.org.au/sites/default/files/publications/fact-sheet-27-election2016-13-may-2016.pdf
[2] Bharmal N, Pitkin Derose K, Felician M, Weden MM. Working Paper. Understanding the Upstream Social Determinants of Health. RAND Health. May 2015. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/working_papers/WR1000/WR1096/RAND_WR1096.pdf
[3] Russell L. The economics of delivering primary health care in rural and underserved areas—what works? Menzies Centre for Health Policy. University of Sydney. 14th National Rural Health Conference. http://www.ruralhealth.org.au/14nrhc/sites/default/files/Russell%2C%20Kesley%2C%20KN.pdf
[4] Braveman P, Gottlieb L. The Social Determinants of Health: It’s Time to Consider the Causes of the Causes. Public Health Reports. 2014;129(Suppl 2):19-31. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3863696/