The Impacts Of Diabetes On The Australian Population: The Importance Of The Ottawa Charter

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Diabetes is a very complex and serious condition that can have an immense affect on the whole human body. If an individual is diagnosed with Diabetes, daily medication and daily care. However, if complications further arise, the disease can have a further impact on their quality of life and life expectancy. Quality of life is health, comfort and happiness which is experienced by an individual, whereas life expectancy is a calculation which is based on different aspects of someone which is put together to determine how long an individual is expected to live. Currently, there is no cure to diabetes, however it is believed that a cure will arrive in the future.

Diabetes comes in various forms. The three main forms of diabetes are type 1, type 2 and gestational diabetes.

Type-1 diabetes is an auto-immune condition and in type-1 diabetes, the immune system is then activated to act upon destroying the cells in the pancreas which produces insulin. However, it is still unknown what causes the immune system to react this way, which is why it is dangerous, as without insulin, the human body can exceed regular sugar levels which eventually develops into diabetes. Also, there is no cure for this disease, and it cannot be prevented.

Type-2 diabetes is a more progressive form of diabetes where the body becomes more resistant to insulin which then leads to the body losing the capacity to create the adequate amount of insulin needed. Like type-1 diabetes, there is no cure and stuns professionals as it is still unknown why this happens. Also, type 2 diabetes has strong genetic factors and can travel in the family.

Gestational diabetes is a form of diabetes which is formed during a woman’s pregnancy stage. It is likely that when the baby is born, the woman will then lose the diabetes, however, in some cases, the diabetes affect sticks around and some women will maintain the high blood glucose levels after the baby has been delivered. This form of diabetes is the fastest-growing form of diabetes which affects thousands of pregnant women. Cases are continually being reported and it is estimated that 12 to 14 percent of pregnant woman will develop the disease. It usually occurs in between the 24th and 28th week of pregnancy, and pregnant women around this time period are advised to be tested.

Outline c.

Diabetes has had a huge impact on the Australian population, and it is estimated that people experiencing diabetes has well exceeded the one million mark. The form of diabetes known as type-2 diabetes becomes more common with an increase in age and is more common in men than women. Type-1 diabetes is more common with younger people, in particular, those aged between 0 and 14. Australia is also ranked 7th in the world for prevalence of type-1 diabetes of those aged between 0 and 14. There is also a growing trend of individuals aged between 0 and 14 who are starting to develop type-2 diabetes.

Diabetes has a large and broad effect on the human body. It is reported that 13 per cent of Australians suffering from diabetes also suffer from nerve damage within their lower limbs, 15 per cent of sufferers also contract diabetic retinopathy. Also, diabetes has developed to be the leading cause of end-stage kidney stage. Cardiovascular disease also impacts on how severe diabetes can be and believed that around 65 per cent of all Cardiovascular diseases occur to people who have had a past or present experience with diabetes. Furthermore, around 41 per cent of sufferers experienced a form of anxiety, stress and depression.

Indigenous Australians are estimated to have a 4 times more likely chance to develop type-2 diabetes when compared to a non-indigenous Australian. This number is only higher when the Aboriginal lives in a rural or remote area. Also, 1 in 8 adult aboriginals have had diabetes at some point in their life and that it was more common in females.

Due to cases of diabetes being exponentially common, it is believed that by the year 2025, that around 3 million Australians over the age of 25 will have developed a form of the disease. Type-2 will be affected immensely due to the rising rates in obesity, ageing, dietary changes and finally sedentary lifestyles. Obesity is perhaps the biggest factor influencing type-2 diabetes, that if obesity was to be eliminated, it has the ability to reduce type-2 diabetes by over 40 per cent.

Diabetes is also a very expensive disease as people need to buy health care and medication to minimize the effect of diabetes. It is estimated that in 2010 around $6 billion had been spent on type-2 diabetes related expenses. Also, it was recorded that the average amount of money spent per-person annually was $4025. Type-1 diabetes also had an extreme amount of money spent on it. As of 2010, around $570 million had been spent by sufferers, and the average amount spent annually by each person was $4669.

Describe how each of the following may contribute to the prevalence of the condition

Individual Factors

There is a wide range of individual factors that could contribute to the prevalence of diabetes. Individual factors simply mean the factors of an individual which may increase the risk of diabetes towards the individual, factors like these include genetics and personal characteristics, however, this is a much larger spectrum of factors when talking about individual factors. An individual factor that may contribute to the prevalence of the condition may be genetics.

Genetics is where the health issue can be transferred through the family through genes, and also increases the chance of inheriting diabetes. Due to this, and diabetes being a transferable condition, it is safe to say that genetics can be a huge individual factor.

Another factor which can impact diabetes are skills. Skills are a major necessity in life, and without skills, people would constantly fail. A skill like decision-making is crucial when controlling diabetes. It allows you to decide on the right choice, which may be to take certain tablets at certain times or to do certain activities.

Attitude also plays an important role in preventing diabetes. If someone’s attitude is really low, they may avoid the doctor for check-ups and assistance. A low attitude is where someone can’t be bothered to go see their doctor or a professional about their health, and in particular to ask about diabetes. Diabetes is more common than most people think, and a lot of people who don’t think they have the disease actually have it without knowing. So, this is why having a positive attitude is important as it may help prevent the disease or minimise the effect.

Another factor which may contribute to diabetes is knowledge. If an individual does have little to no knowledge on diabetes, this will only raise the risk of developing diabetes. They may do things which will only cause diabetes such as eat foods that contain unhealthy ingredients which is prone to developing it.

Socio-Cultural Factors

Family could also link with genetics. It is due to genetics and diabetes running through the family that someone can develop diabetes. Also, family does have the biggest influence on health within the socio-economic section.

Peers also can influence the effect of diabetes on an individual. A huge part of peers is per pressure. This is where friends convince you to do something you are not sure if it is safe or not. You might already be on the verge of developing diabetes and might be at a friend’s place. They ask you to have a few drinks such as soft drinks which contain a large sugar amount, even if you done want to, you are peer pressured to have rink which is very bad for your health.

The media also has the potential to contribute to the prevalence to diabetes. If there is a new popular form of food or drink out, it will be shown to millions of Australians through the media and advertisement. If this food contains a high amount of sugar or other unhealthy ingredients, it will be very unhealthy and especially for diabetes, it will only increase the risk of it. Also, the item may be highly addictive, which only means that if people discover a highly addictive item that contains a lot of sugar, it will also be prone to developing diabetes.

Religion could have a huge effect on someone’s effect on diabetes. Some religions have special specifications on what one eats, and due to this, it can cause one to develop a form of diabetes.

Socio-Economic Factors

Income also, is a huge factor on diabetes. Most, healthy meal plans like ‘lite n easy’ charge large amounts of money for healthy eating, and the pricing is as high as $150 a week for a full meal plan, whereas the cheaper alternative is junk food as well as fast food. These alternatives are much cheaper and like healthy foods, they are pre-packed and easy to eat. There is a way around expensive healthy food, and that is to make the food yourself. Not only do you save money, but the food is healthier and can reduce your risk of developing diabetes. Also, people may not be able to afford health care as well as check ups from a private doctor or professional. If they can not be checked for potential signs of diabetes, they will not know if they should change their lifestyle so that they can work around the diabetes, therefore, the diabetes will only get worse which can cause heavy medication, or potentially death.

Education also can contribute to a form of diabetes. If one is very low educated on health, such as what foods are unhealthy or healthy, they will most likely consume more foods that appeal and taste better to them, which is most likely to be unhealth foods. Mostly, this applies to people who have little access to education such as those living in rural and remote areas, as well as the disadvantaged.

Environmental Factors

Geographical location has a huge impact on diabetes. If one lives in a rural or remote area, they may have little access to healthier food options, which means they could become reliant on unhealthy, junk food. If they continue this trend and continually eat unhealthy food and drink such as chocolate and soft drink it will eventually lead to diabetes and obesity.

Access to health care also can contribute to the prevalence of diabetes. If one has very little access to health services such as someone living in a rural or remote area has a much higher chance of developing diabetes compared to someone who has a many health services near their area. The individual will not know whether they’re consuming too much unhealthy foods and can prove to be terrible as they will eventually develop diabetes. Not only will this result in diabetes, it will also result in obesity.

Access to technology provides anyone with health tips at any time. There are various sites on the internet which can help you work on your health which are free. However, if someone does not have access to technology,

Part B

Explain how each action area of the Ottawa Charter has contributed to positive health outcomes for your selected priority area.

What is the Ottawa Charter?

The Ottawa charter was first developed in 1986 and was designed to recognise the determinants of health, as well as developing 5 action areas which are used in health promotion to explain the determinants. The 5 action areas of the Ottawa charter are to build a healthy public policy, as well as creating a supportive environment, strengthen community actions, develop personal skills and finally to reorient health services.

Developing Personal Skills

The area known as developing personal skills has positively contributed to positive health outcomes for diabetes in numerous ways. This area was aimed at the individual to realise any changes that they can adapt to their life which could help reduce the risk of developing diseases. It is designed to help people discover skills that are crucial when attempting to make improvements in their life. Skills like these include decision making, problem solving, time management and numerous others. All these skills are crucial when dealing with diabetes, and if dealt with well, will ensure that you are doing the best possible things to help with your diabetes. Also, it is compulsory that students attend PDHPE lessons which helps educate them to broaden their knowledge which then results in them applying this knowledge to the real world. This promotes and social and personal development through providing information to the public, as well as health education such as PDHPE and life skills like decision-making. The ‘National Diabetes action Program’ is Australia’s type-2 diabetes prevention and awareness area. The main objective for this program is to spread the importance of how bad type-2 diabetes actually is, however they aim at explaining that it is preventable and also provides information that proves to help, as well as providing support services to anyone.

Creating a supportive environment

The second action of the Ottawa a charter is creating supportive environments. This area is focusing on how a positive environment can affect someone’s health. It allows friends, family and neighbours to work together to build a healthy environment which leads to them supporting, encouraging as well as supplying resources to those who chase room for improvement in their health. This action is displayed by those organisations who provide a positive environment from those who suffer from diseases such as diabetes, groups like this include Diabetes Australia and the National Diabetes Service Scheme. These organisations help by providing the community with diabetes related products as well as financially supporting those and providing sufferers with information and support. This proves how this area of the Ottawa charter has influenced others to create a supportive environment for sufferers.

Reorienting Health Services

The second action area of the Ottawa charter is directed at reorientating health services. This basically means to ensure that health services are accessible, as well as being available to everyone within the community, also, it assesses if the services are effective in different aspects such as how effective they are at prevention, cure and promotion. Promotion of the health services is responsible for everyone within the community including community groups, organisations and the government. If these groups work together to achieve the best outcome possible, it will benefit the wellbeing of the community immensely. Services within the health sector such as free clinic check ups for diabetes are very important as it encourages people to get them self checked, which will increase prevention rate. Also, sufferers can feel assured as the government is dedicated to supporting them by financially supporting them by helping with medical costs which only benefits patients

Building healthy public policies

The fourth action area of the Ottawa charter is aimed at Building healthy public policies. The focus point of this area is to give assistance to those on making healthier choices by creating and implementing public policies focusing on health barriers that prevent one being healthy in a way, and then work on eliminating them. These policies provide individuals with an alternative which is aimed at choosing healthier options, doing this gives the individual with a sense of choice as well reducing the risk of them developing conditions such as Diabetes. Similar actions to these are seen in schools which are enforced. This also provides students with several alternative options and informing them through education and physical activity such as PE lessons. This will reduce their risk of diabetes even as they get older due to the physical activity and the healthier options they had previously taken. Also, physical activity and a healthy diet two main protectors against diabetes.

Strengthening Community Action

The fifth and final action area of the Ottawa Charter is based around ‘Strengthening Community Action’. This allows those to work together to ensure that strategies are being implemented which will then lead to better health. It is also prone to improving the support and enthusiasm, as well as encouragement throughout the community, also that individuals within the community are participating in ensuring that services all accessible to everyone and are unrestricted, this then makes all information available as well as educating them. Also, this is demonstrated in the schools P&C, (parent and citizens) where the parents get a say in what rules should be abolished or made as well as providing decisions. Topics such as improving health within schools are talked about, this then branches off to healthier canteens and physical PE lessons which are aimed at reducing the student’s chances at developing conditions such as diabetes.

Evaluate the effectiveness of each action area of the Ottawa Charter in relation to your selected priority area.

The effectiveness of the Ottawa charter on diabetes is immense. It has encouraged governments and health organisations and take a stand against difficult conditions and to put forward campaigns to help the wider communities health status. Each action area has positively effected diabetes immensely and reduced the prevalence of the disease as well as reducing the diseases effectiveness and ultimately reducing fatality rate. Due to governments, organisations and health related businesses taking on the Ottawa Charter, it outlines how much the Ottawa Charter has had an impact on reducing the effect of diabetes on the Australian population.

Propose alternative evidence-based strategies that may reduce the prevalence of the condition.

The Ottawa charter provides many different strategies which are aimed at reducing or ultimately elimination certain effects of diabetes. However, there are several other strategies aimed at preventing or reducing the effect of diabetes. A strategy used to help with your form of diabetes is to know facts on the form that you have. Knowing information on your form of diabetes allows you to discover alternatives to bad habits for it such as healthy eating, however, you may need to stop eating more of a particular food or eat more of it. At the moment, there is no prevention for type-1 diabetes, however type 2 diabetes has many strategies which can help reduce the prevalence and effect of the condition. These strategies include ensuring that you maintain a healthy weight, exercise regularly, consume healthier foods more often, managing blood pressure, maintaining a healthy cholesterol level and to avoid smoking. Also, there are state programs aimed at helping prevent and reduce the prevalence of the condition.

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