Public health and chronic disease
Topic 1: Ministerial Briefing Paper
You are employed in the Population Health Division of the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing. The Minister of Health has requested a series of briefing papers that will guide her decisions in relation to recommended actions, including policy, funding and/or service delivery concerning the identified health issues.
The areas where she is seeking information are:
Violence against women. Refugee health. The health impacts of global warming. Alcohol misuse. You are to select one of these topics and prepare a Ministerial briefing paper on this topic. It should provide a clear analysis of the issue and propose a range of evidence-based public health responses.
A structure for a Ministerial briefing paper is provided below.
MINISTERIAL BRIEFING PAPER (FOR A DECISION)
SUBJECT: The subject should not exceed two lines
ISSUE (S): The issue statement sets out what has happened, is happening or will happen to trigger the need for the memo. It should not exceed three or four lines.
BACKGROUND
•Provide information that will help the minister to understand the issue at hand and its context.
•Provide a succinct history and/or explanations that will help the minister to understand the nature of the issue or its context
CONSIDERATIONS
•What is being proposed: what are the options available to the government? •Why are you recommending these options?
•What are the pros & cons of each?
•Outline the evidence and implications of your recommended option(s) and any alternatives
(Give succinct analysis/arguments).
CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS
Summaries the main issues End with a recommendation that is based on the evidence provided
Topic 2: Public health and chronic disease
For this topic you are to develop an overall public health approach to address the health burden associated with a selected chronic condition. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (http://www.aihw.gov.au/chronic-diseases/) provides a list of the characteristics of chronic conditions.
For this assignment, you are to choose ONE of the following conditions: osteoporosis, asthma, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Your overall framework to address this population health issue should incorporate the practices of public health (surveillance, prevention, early intervention, protection, promotion, etc.) and the principles of public health (ethics, human rights, health equity, population approaches, intersectoral action, etc.) as appropriate to your topic.