Health Inequities in Rural and Remote Areas

The Rural and Remote general practice program is essentially funds provided by the government to encourage and place more general practitioners (GP) in rural and remote areas where they may be accessed by those in isolation.

The Royal flying doctor’s service and angel flight is a transport service that provides aircraft vehicles for patients who are in desperate need of medical attention to be flown from their rural and remote areas to a nearby hospital saving time, money, and potentially lives.

• Living in remote or rural areas boasts the disadvantage of having significantly lower learning outcomes than those living in urban areas, with a mere 36% achieving a year 12 equivalent or above. This occurs due to the large distances that people living in these areas have to travel in order to reach educational establishments
• Living in remote or rural areas boasts the disadvantage of being unable to purchase foods and medicinal products that are necessary for a healthy life, due to the lack of employment opportunities for those living in such areas

SARRAH (Services for Australian Rural and Remote Allied Health) is an organization put in place to assist with the medical needs of those in rural and remote areas by providing them with necessary services. These services may include the education on health people in isolation are unable to have, or the provision of assistance to the already established health services located in these areas.

• Living in remote or rural areas boasts the disadvantage of great difficulty to purchase fresh and healthy foods that provide the necessary nutrition for a human. This is due to the often occurring large distances between such areas and that of establishments containing fresh foods.

Strategies in Place to Deal with these Health Inequities

Disadvantages of People Living in Rural and Remote Areas

Telehealth is a government implemented service that allows patients in rural and remote areas to speak with a general practitioner through a network with video and audio, allowing health problems which may not be urgent to be consulted quickly and professionally.

• Living in remote or rural areas boasts the disadvantage of difficulty accessing health services, occurring due to the long distances that there are between those areas and hospitals or doctors
• Living in remote or rural areas boasts the disadvantage of a significantly larger risk regarding the contraction of diseases. This is due to the fact that many living in these areas (over 65%), live in overcrowded houses

The Rural and Remote Education Blueprint is a set of strategies focusing on the improvement of education for children living in rural and remote areas, ultimately for the purpose of allowing them to grow healthily mentally and physically. One of these particular initiatives includes increasing funding for the rural and remote KLA curriculum for the purpose of sprouting young talent and creating a wider category of schooling opportunities.

Note

Health inequities are different to health inequalities in that health inequities occur due to the social nature of humans and are avoidable, while health inequalities cannot be avoided via social intervention

Example

Health Inequities in Rural and Remote Areas

Our Strategy

The word health refers to a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being. The word inequity refers to a range of visible and invisible differences between individuals and groups throughout the community. These Inequities usually occur due to the inequalities of social, geographical and environmental detriments, most of which may still be possibly corrected through human intervention.

The low education curve inequity will be solved through a section of the text which accompanies information concerning KLA education, allowing many to learn the essentials for the advanced knowledge that they will be exposed to in later years of schooling.

Our strategy to combat the health inequities in rural and remote areas is the construction of a variety of informational texts that will educate people living in such areas on basic needs that are not so easily accessible there. The text will contain KLA education courses for those who cannot afford schooling, guides on treating and detecting illnesses that commonly occur in said areas, guides on how to create food sources through farming if food is not easily obtainable, and more. As well as this, the text will contain information about the specific government services and organizations that aid with the health inequities evident in rural and remote areas such as Telehealth and SARRAH, due to the fact that many are unaware that these solutions are already in place.

Information Text Front Cover

Health Inequities Definition

Example

The informational text will solve the inequity of the lack of easily accessible fresh/healthy foods by educating people living in rural and remote areas on how to effectively grow and maintain fresh and healthy produce in order to remain in a medically sound condition

Health inequities can be defined as the differences in health status between population groups that are socially produced, structural in their unequal distribution, and are considered unfair and completely avoidable.

Examples

Examples of health inequities could include long distance from medical services, limited access to means of transportation, lack of funding for medical needs and the struggle to speak English in an English heavy country.

Health Inequities In Rural and Remote Areas

By: Peter Haddad and Eric Condos 9.1