PUBH6001 Health Policy and Advocacy - Social Media Portfolio

Assessment Task

In this assessment, you will select and research an appropriate Australian public health issue and write two evidence-based blog posts (Part A: 500 words +/–10%; Part B: 600 words +/–10%) as well as a 230-character Twitter summary for both.

In Part A, you will outline the public health issue selected and then discuss the related health policy environment, and in Part B, using the same public health issue, you will present a range of evidence- based policy solutions and argue for the most appropriate policy response.

Please refer to the Task Instructions (below) for details on how to complete this task.

Part A: The Role of Public Health Policy
To complete this assessment task, you will need to:

Research an Australian public health issue that is of interest to you. What is the issue, and what part of the population does it most affect?
Explore the current health policy environment that surrounds this issue. Consider the following:

• Has this issue reached the government’s agenda? Is the government doing anything to solve this issue?
• Has the government introduced any health policies to address this issue?
• Are any such policies adequate? Are they equitable?
• What are the policy gaps driving or contributing to this issue?

Write a clear and succinct blog post (500 words) that discusses the above factors.

You also need to write a 230-character Twitter post that links to this blog. You may use relevant public health hashtags that will draw people to your post. Remember that you are writing this content as a public health professional (this is not a personal opinion piece); thus, you must write in a manner that is appropriate to this brief and suitable for all audiences.

Part B: Role of Public Health Advocacy
Now that you have gained an understanding of how to use social media to raise awareness about your selected public health issue, it is time to use the same social media platforms (your blog and Twitter account) to present your preferred policy solution (based on evidence). This type of advocacy requires you to create a heading that will attract attention and develop an argument as to why you think this is the best way to improve the situation for those experiencing the public health issue you have selected.
To complete this assessment task, you will need to:

• Build on Part A to advocate for your preferred evidence-based policy solution;
• Write a short blog post on the topic (600 words); and
• Write a Twitter post to link to the blog post.