Nature and significance of the problem
Discuss about the Food and Health Policy of Australia.
This report is designed to provide a brief but useful insight into the health related policy development in Australia. The policy chosen here is ‘Food and Health’ policy affecting the interest of public in Australia. The report discusses the significance of the policy along with the factors affecting the development and implementation of the policy throughout the country. It also highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the policy while illustrating the institutional processes in the policy designing. Furthermore, some valuable recommendations are also included in the report to improve the policy.
The Food and Health Policy of Australia aims at ensuring that all Australians purchase, consumes, and enjoy safe and high quality food and do not fall into the trap of diseases. The health system of Australia serves the people well on several parameters. Although there exist a room for further improvement, the complications of the policy make it hard to find the areas where betterment is required and the changes needed to deliver best results (Pacheco et al., 2018). In this context, the significance of Australian Food and Health policy cannot be overlooked. The major emphasis of Australia’s Food and Health Policy is around the problems of how to supply best quality food to all at affordable price. This discussion is worth having as it revolves around the arguments regarding whether the Food and Health System as a whole is at risk or unsustainable.
The developments in food policy development in Australia in recent years have focused on every aspect of the food chain from manufacturing to consumption. It has also incorporated the social, economic and environmental impact of food, bad diet, obesity, malnutrition and resultant chronic diseases like diabetes, heat fail, cancer and blood pressure. The Australian Food Authority is working to develop effective strategies for addressing food-related issues where public health is constantly viewed as a result of food policy. Food safety and an ecologically sustainable food supply are also considered as significant food policy drivers increasing recognition that food regulations are important for the wellbeing of the society.
Historical factors: The general history of Australian Food Policy provides that the policy is most affected by the people’s attitude toward food and diet (Waterlander et al., 2018). The three stages of food policy development were the outdoor kitchen which was corresponding to the discovery and survival, the outhouse kitchen which was corresponding to refinement and awareness and the last one is respectable kitchen which was corresponding to commercialism and convenience.
Different factors in context of policy
Social factors: Social determinants of food health include inequality in Australia, lack of equal access to basic food and the poor standard of health infrastructure for disadvantaged sections. It also includes consumption of convenience foods by Australians such as highly saturated fat and sugars while preference of high class people for healthy food cause systemic discernment.
Economic factors: The Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) emphasizes on the economic issues encountered by the Australian food and grocery industry. The AFGC’s State of the Industry 2012observed that the output of food industry is constricted by 4.4 precent in 2010whereas total employment is decreased by 2.1 percent affecting the food manufacturing in Australia. The report showed the food industry comprised of 22,000 businesses in the 2011and provided employment to around29000 people in the production of food significantly influencing the quality and supply of food across the country.
Political factors: In Australia, restriction and Embargo on importing food by the government have greatly affected the food choices of people. The aim is to prevent trading of food between countries and encourage Australians to support local and national farmers’ livelihood (Waterlander et al., 2018). Moreover, the Food laws, taxes and trade agreements in Australia have influenced what is available within and between various nations, thus impacting the accessibility of different food products in the local supermarkets.
Technological factors: The technological development in the food industry of Australia is rapid and fast. The government also focus on encouraging the adoption of efficient technologies for specific agricultural systems so as to improve the quality of food. Integration environmental goals and food production are attained by the adoption of relevant food technologies. It significantly affects the level, amount and quality of food for the good health of all.
In Australia, Food and Health Policies are designed by both government and private organizations. While the government works to improve national health policy by monitoring the operations of private organizations, the later emphasize to deliver nutritious and health food to citizens. Public Health Association of Australia advocate the state, territorial and federal governments. The organization establishes food security measures as a first priority and adopts an effective way to tackle the food related issues. It also allocates funds to promote development, formulation, analysis and research around a healthy diet plan for all (Pulker et al., 2018). The authority is also responsible for administering the progress of the policies and produce report to public. It also plans to collaborate to with other relevant organizations to mutually decrease the food poisoning while supporting healthy Australia.
Leading individuals or organisations advocating for this policy
Another authority that is involved in making Food policy in Australia is New South Wales Food Authority. It is a legal body of Australian government responsible to ensure food safety and proper labeling on products in the interest of consumers’ health. The organization is basically a part of the executive arm of Government of NSW within the jurisdiction of Ministry for Primary Industries.
Australian Commission on Quality and Safety in Health Care is responsible for coordinating and leading safety improvement and quality level in food and health throughout the country (Waterlander et al., 2018). It develops and promotes national food safety with clinical standards and also executes national accreditation programs for analyzing health-related information.
Moreover, National Health Performance Authority also provides countrywide consistent, locally applicable and comparable information about Australia’s Food and Health system to aware consumers, peruse and bring improvements for supporting transparency and accountability.
In Australia, Food and Health Policy is developed considering the major aspects of institutional structures and processes for the fulfillment of the policy objectives and key drivers (Degeling et al., 2018). The institutional measures align the policy drivers with government aims so as to ensure proper implementation. The government forms an explicit links with the strategy and policy documents among existing policies and practices. In the development of the policy, the Australian government shares, collaborates and consults with the stakeholders so as to make unbiased decisions.
Food and Health policies are usually technology neutral, which are not influenced by any one technology platform or a system in Australia. However, sometimes this may become unfeasible. In such situations, the government focuses on principles, targets and purposes that the existing technology can support (Waterlander et al., 2018). For the purpose of building clear, lucid and valid documentation and processes, the government adheres to a set methodology and for establishing an idea for review so that the policy and strategy remains relevant and reliable.
In addition to this, in Australia, the effective government policies are generally developed as per negotiation, specifically when there is a call for the individual person, institute or organization to behave in a specified way. The nation’s laws are intended to formulate policy works when these individuals “follow” or “honor” it. The implication is that policy makers willingly integrate the desired actions for application when it requires not more than an intelligent government action. It is helpful in achieving a general mode of behavior towards policy.
Institutional structures and processes utilized to develop the policy
The overriding objectives of the Food and Health policy of Australia are to:
- Protect and promote the health and safety of Australian citizens by minimizing food-related risks
- Inform consumers about making right choices about food by making sure they are fully aware and are not misled
- Promote public health by supporting healthy food choices; maintaining and improving the nutritional qualities of food and by responding to the particular concerns of public health
- Upkeep a strong and viable food industry that provides a diverse, and affordable food supply to benefit the entire Australian economy
In order to help attain these aims, the Australian Government states and territories work together with international organizations as well by sharing resources and ideas (Kelly, & Jacoby, 2018). The strategies used in the policy are as follows:
- Offering safe food controls to ensure health and safety
- Decreasing the burden of laws and obedience on the food industry
- Assisting align Australia’s and international measures to support domestic and export food standards, and ensure their coordination with broad food standards
- Supplying cost-effective compliance and implementation provisions for industry, consumers and government (Degeling et al., 2018).
- Realizing that duty of food safety is at all levels of government
- Supporting the joint Australian and international bodies ‘efforts for achieving food standards
The Australian, states and territories also agree that all organizations of the food supply chain are responsible for dealing with their own food safety risks
The “Food and Health” policy was adopted by the Australian government and implemented successfully in the region to develop a healthy community. The policy’s objectives of providing affordable, healthy and acceptable food were successful achieved by the regional government. The Australian government was taken key routing responsibility in developing the nutrition and food policies and offered leadership to coordinate and facilitate constant accomplishment by other government agencies such as education, agriculture, transport and urban planning (Badland et al., 2014). The weakness and strength of the policy are discussed as below:
Strengths: The aim of the policy is to improve the community awareness about health concerns by supporting the general practitioners. This policy attained an excellent geographic extend with including regional and rural areas of the country to facilitate food and health services. Through this policy the Australian government assisted the provision of pioneering care service model such as outreach services and prologue of cellular phone based CBT to the community. As well as, the policy has facilitated the specific population group such as indigenous people, homeless public and refugee group of people. In this concern, the policy helped to develop a local teamwork model with involving associated health professionals, psychiatrists and GPs. The policy also became helpful in providing security of employment in the regions where the permanent private practices are not sustainable for the workers (Australian Government, 2018). The employment security supported the economic condition of the workers. Australia has achieved lowest smoking rate in the world through the public health initiatives, which have decreased health concerns in the society. In this concern, “Food and Health” policy supported to community in improving their daily diet and awareness about the health concerns.
Weakness: There are some issues in the implementation of the “Food and Health” policy as it is not a cost effective strategy to develop a healthy community so that the lack of financial resources and poverty was a big issue in implementing the policy in successful manner in the rural areas. The Victorian government demonstrated that the vegetables and fruits are most expensive in Australia, which is not affordable for a poor people. In this concern, high prices of healthy food products become hey barriers in the implementation of this policy. In addition, the policy not contained any criteria regarding climate change, which is a major weakness of the policy. In this concern, the “Food and Health” policy has some issues for successful completion in Australia.
It is analyzed the food and health are fundamental needs for the protection and promotion of health. The government can full potentials of human development and growth with value of existence and citizenship. The efficiency of a food and health policy depends on the knowledge of nutrition in the concerning region. In addition, the nutrient in food products steadily influence on the health of a human being. In this concern, it is essential to employ alternative instruments to assess immediate intervention for long-term succession of food and health policy in the country. The proposed realistic alternatives to improve the “Food and Health” policy are discussed in the below points:
- In Australia, the predictable income flexibility of nutrient and energy emphasizes the role of family income in improving the diet quality. It is analyzed that the micronutrients such as absorption rates and iron are lower in the poor people therefore it is essential for the authority to have proper focus on “absorbable” iron intakes in the daily diet to diminish deficiencies. This effort will be supportive in designing the policies with developing the iron content in snip foods like beans and rice, while raising the intakes of vegetables like orange soft tissue and sweet potato that enclose superior extent of β-carotene. This type of policies will be steadily beneficial for the individuals, even though the appraisal of the advantages would need an extensive framework (Magni et al., 2017). Therefore, the authority can implement this alternative in designing the policy for better outcomes of the policy.
- At present time, the environmental factors such as poor water quality and sanitation are influencing on morbidity of the individuals because these factors hamper nutrient absorption. For instance, the population of Kenyan, Filipino and Bangladeshi demonstrated the significance of good quality nutritional category accessed by the use of intake of vitamins and hemoglobin absorption in reducing morbidity from the community. In this concern, the authority should also have proper focus on different environmental factors that are influencing to human being (Hamilton and Wu, 2012). In designing the policy, the authority should collect big data from different sources and make a result oriented policy. The information regarding the environmental factors will enable to design an effective policy to transform a healthy society in the country.
- The authority should implement training and development programs to introduce about the health concern in the community and generate awareness about healthy diet for an individual. The students should be learned about the health policies that will be helpful in improving the nutritional position of individuals, particularly when the resources are inadequate. In addition, the food policies such as caring supplementation agenda in pregnancy to get better delivery results, alternation of lactating mothers to maintain child development and the supplement programs for kindergarten kids are expected to develop a healthy community (Skeem et al., 2011). In this concern, the authority should consider the social awareness programs to introduce the community about the healthy nutrition in food for healthy living. These programs will be helpful in obtaining the objectives of the policy in proper manner.
- Promoting production of cattle will be cooperative for human growth as the dairy manufactured goods boost iron and calcium intakes. As well as, authority should make efforts on the cultivation of vegetables and fruits even on a tiny level to increase the increase vitamin intakes and enhance iron absorption. For this, the authority can implement different cultivation programs to make conscious the individuals about resources availability and importance of vegetable and dairy farming at small scale. The cognitive growth of new generation is serious for future contribution of skillful worker for economic growth. The diet quality will be helpful in terms of micronutrient and protein intakes and advantageous for people’s cognitive and physical improvement (Hamilton and Wu, 2012). In this concern, the government should consider the study of healthy nutrition in the pre-schools for the successful implementation of food and health policy.
- It is essential to plan instructive programs on detrimental processed food to improve a healthy diet. Through the educational or instructive programs the authority can aware the community about the harmful impact of unhealthy diet on the health. Therefore, the authority should implement educational programs to aware the people about the benefits of nutrient food for a healthy life.
The theory underlines that the efficiency of a “Food and Health” policy is probably to depend on understanding the knowledge integrated in the plan. In addition, the nutrients in eating products steadily have an effect on an individual’s health so it can be used as an alternative tool to develop a long-term policy. As well as, the environmental factors play an essential role in designing an effective policy. The policy maker should use large data sources or secondary data in developing an attractive policy in the community. Therefore, the analysis is describing different data sources must be considered while designing a policy in a specific region as the data will provide a clear view of the current and previous situation of the target population and major causes behind the issue. As well as, the theory is describing that the target population must be aware about the objectives of the policy as it will be helpful in adopting the policy in successful manner in the target community.
There are some limitations in the implementation of the theory as the theory is describing about improving healthy food in the community but not providing about the ways of developing healthy food. In addition, the theory is also not providing the information about how a healthy food can be accessed by the individuals. As well as, the theory is not focusing on the care services, which is essential for a healthy life in the region.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that the “Food and Health” policy influenced to interest and behavior of the people but also developed a health environment in the community. In addition, it is analyzed that the policy also played an essential role in eliminating the health concerns from the community in successful manner.
References
Australian Government (2018). Strengths and weaknesses of the current ATAPS program. Retrieved from: https://www.health.gov.au/internet/publications/publishing.nsf/Content/mental-boimhc-ataps-review-toc~mental-boimhc-ataps-review-appb~mental-boimhc-ataps-review-appb-str
Badland, H., Whitzman, C., Lowe, M., Davern, M., Aye, L., Butterworth, I., … & Giles-Corti, B. (2014). Urban liveability: emerging lessons from Australia for exploring the potential for indicators to measure the social determinants of health. Social science & medicine, 111, 64-73.
Degeling, C., Johnson, J., Iredell, J., Nguyen, K. A., Norris, J. M., Turnidge, J. D.,& Gilbert, G. L. (2018). Assessing the public acceptability of proposed policy interventions to reduce the misuse of antibiotics in Australia: A report on two community juries. Health Expectations, 21(1), 90-99.
Hamilton, J. D., & Wu, J. C. (2012). The effectiveness of alternative monetary policy tools in a zero lower bound environment. Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, 44(s1), 3-46.
Kelly, B., & Jacoby, E. (2018). Public Health Nutrition special issue on ultra-processed foods. Public health nutrition, 21(1), 1-4.
Magni, P., Bier, D. M., Pecorelli, S., Agostoni, C., Astrup, A., Brighenti, F., … & Guerra, R. (2017). Perspective: improving nutritional guidelines for sustainable health policies: current status and perspectives. Advances in Nutrition, 8(4), 532-545.
Pacheco, A. F., Balam, G. C., Archibald, D., Grant, E., &Skafida, V. (2018).Exploring the relationship between local food environments and obesity in UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand: a systematic review protocol. BMJ open, 8(2), e018701.
Pulker, C. E., Scott, J. A., & Pollard, C. M. (2018). Ultra-processed family foods in Australia: nutrition claims, health claims and marketing techniques. Public health nutrition, 21(1), 38-48.
Skeem, J. L., Manchak, S., & Peterson, J. K. (2011). Correctional policy for offenders with mental illness: Creating a new paradigm for recidivism reduction. Law and human behavior, 35(2), 110-126.
Waterlander, W. E., Mhurchu, C. N., Eyles, H., Vandevijvere, S., Cleghorn, C., Scarborough, P.,&Seidell, J. (2018). Food futures: developing effective food systems interventions to improve public health nutrition. Agricultural systems, 160, 124-131.
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