PUBH6003 Public Health - Health Systems And Economics Assignment Solution

Introduction

An unhealthy lifestyle increases one’ vulnerability to many diseases- one such disease is diabetes. Department of Health (2016) identified that approximately 5% of the Australians have been diagnosed with diabetes, and the unreported number is much higher.   Diabetes is closely associated with chronic diseases like cardiovascular and kidney problems.  Whilst the condition can be improved by improving the lifestyle, however, it is difficult to achieve the desired results on own and therefore there is a need for support from the health system as discussed below. 

Overview of the Health System

According to WHO (2010), a health system can be described to be comprising of several organisations, institution, and people who look after improving the quality of health.  The health system improves the quality of health by developing programs which are aimed at prevention (of diseases), promotion (of healthy lifestyles), and cure and rehabilitation after suffering from a disease. As discussed above, there are several stakeholders involved in the health system which can be classified on multiple dimensions, however, the most accepted identification is the six block framework which is shown below. 

It can be clearly observed from the above figure that whilst there are common goals and outcomes for the stakeholders, there is a possibility that these stakeholders may have different interests due to the economics of any disease. The same is true for diabetes management in Australia. 

Diabetes Management in Australia

The economic interests of the six blocks of health systems in case of diabetes are discussed below on the basis of two stages of diseases management- prevention and treatment. 

Herman (2011) argued that the prevention of disease and promotion of healthy lifestyle requires that awareness schemes are conducted to reduce the incidence of the disease. Of the six blocks identified in figure 1, there are three blocks which are involved in the prevention of disease and promotion of a healthy lifestyle- First is the Governance, which develops a vision and strategy like Australian National Diabetes Strategy (2016-2020). The leadership is also responsible for providing financing (second block) to realise the vision and make the strategy successful. The third block involved is the health information system which is responsible for planning and conducting awareness campaigns in schools and communities. Thus, as far as the prevention of disease and promotion of a healthy lifestyle is concerned, the economic interests of the three blocks are aligned (Herman, 2011).