Health policy and analysis
Victoria HIV strategy 2017-2020
Health policy
The public authorities use policies to establish solutions for specific problems in a community. That involves deliberating on specific intentions, setting goals and objectives and deciding on the appropriate process fit for the situations culmination. The health policy is common in all other public policies because it centralizes the achievement of other matters in life. However, initially, the Australian government used to emphasize on illness-related policies rather than the promotion of good health which helps in the prevention of illnesses. The priorities changed later on after a policy analysis was done and all losses incurred in the management of diseases. The public health departments decided to major their programs on prevention initiatives which had long time benefits. For health promotion, the public policy takes the central position because of the tendency of its consideration of public interests. Furthermore, public policy should be made y the authorities which are appropriate in line with the type of people being addressed, their cultures, economic and social statuses. That is to ensure that equity in all perspectives is perfectly considered. For example, how the vulnerable groups will be affected and the effect the policy will have on public health (Willis, Reynolds & Keleher, 2016).
Policy analysis criteria
Policy analysis refers to the determination of the policy option that best meets the set goals’ requirements or required solutions for a specific problem. Analysis needs to be done on processes or steps which are in series form. The policy’s integrity and quality are determined by the processes’ strengths. The steps include the definition of the issue or problem in the subject. The policy communities and actors’ consultation and find out who has already been consulted versus those, not yet consulted. Determining the policies’ achievement intentions and understanding the set objectives as well as the aims. The other step involves determining the instruments which will be effectively used in creating change and that includes the strategize and programs to be used. Moreover, there should be a plan for how policy instruments need to be implemented. The last step is testing on the level of effectiveness the policy has been in problem-solving. That included the evaluation of every step and activity carried out (Collins, 2005).
Objectives are measurable and can mainly be measured by dimensions referred to as criteria. Criteria help in determining the most appropriate policy of different similar alternatives, which can best fit to solve a specific problem. Any policy initially entails a problem which requires alternative means of solving it. The problem results in the formulation of statements entailing goals which need to be met. The health policy can involve criteria to help in determining the target population, the required expertise, the program duration, and the expected results. The overall objectives should be to promote public heels and enhance disease prevention. The goals should be specific and precise to help in easy criteria specification (Collins, 2005).
There should also be specificity, for example, age, gender, family clusters, locations or institutions. The health policy development, however, undergoes different challenges such as the community’s value and ideologies. Powers, political relevance and consultation. Since the health policy is mostly public, there is a tendency to facing the opposition of varied opinions from the communities in line with their cultural values. On can overcome the challenge by ensuring that the different objectives are structured in response to the respective values. The appropriate power figure needs to be identified firmly to avoid fights from other authorities. The policy needs to be relevant in the political trends to ensure enough support from politicians. There should be no diversion. There should be consultations to all relevant authorities such as the actors before any critical decision is made concerning any objective to promote uniform and acceptable results (Collins, 2005).
Application of criteria for analyzing policy to the policy document
The Victoria HIV strategy 2017-2020 has a vision of ensuring complete elimination of new transmissions of HIV. Furthermore, the main objective includes that by the year 2030, all the cases of stigmatization of the infected person and them being discriminated due to the infection will be eliminated. That all the treatment, diagnosis and targets to suppress HIV virus should have been attained at 95%. The objectives for HIV eradication in Victoria includes, the residents being supported on the means at which the rate of them contracting the virus can be reduced, that everyone undergoes HIV diagnostic tests so that all individuals with the virus know about their status, access of the best health care and treatment services for those infected with the virus, infected individuals to gain freedom from stigma while living in communities which are affected, to sustain reduced transmission amongst different groups such as injection drug users, sex workers, mother to child transmission, aboriginals and Islanders (Bovens, 2007).
The alternative policy of ensuring the accomplishment of Victoria’s HIV eradication objectives will include measures which are effectiveness, political, instruments such as costs, consultation and technical. The probing questions that may emerge from determining the effectiveness of the new health policy of HIV eradication in Victoria may involve, How many teenagers per constituency are tested every day? That will be effective in ensuring that when carrying out the objective of ensuring that all infected individuals know their HIV status. By setting a specific target number every day will ensure that every family per constituency is approached for HIV testing. To test for validity, the repeated process is expected to bring in the same numbers. For example, determining the average number of individuals in a family. The political perspective of the activities can be identified through age, funding, and power. The question in place will be, how many people of the voting age are infected every week? That will include finding out the ages of an individual during the testing activities which should be carried from house to house. For better and affordable care treatment, politics cab is incorporated through insurance introduction. That will also be determined by the question about the number of voting age individuals. That is because they are the age of enrolling for personal medical insurance covers (Keleher & MacDougall, 2015).
The technical requirement for the achievement of the new policy’s objective includes the equipment which is needed for the activities, personnel qualifications and skills. The questions to emerge out of this may include, how many RNA testing kits are available for the process? How many packs of disposable packs were disbursed for use in the activity? How many packs of prophylaxis drugs are available for an emergency? The questions will trigger the minds of the organizing group to ensure that all the testing kits for all age groups are available. The missing ones will be easily identified and purchased so that the objective of ensuring every individual is tested is achieved. The prophylaxis drugs are for contingency planning in case of an accidental prick by a used syringe with infected blood. That will help in ensuring that even the workers are safe by all means (Bovens, 2007).
The consultation is an important part to ensure policy development. Specific groups of individuals are required to form a part of the health policy because different ideas and views are needed. There might be representatives for different groups to ensure full participation. For Victoria, the initiative of HIV transmission eradication might stretch to remote locations resulting in limitations in the available funds. That will require a demand for volunteers who will ensure the smooth running of the process. For the sake of policy formation and analysis, there is a need for questions to be asked. They include, Are there plans to extend to the remote regions in Victoria? Who are the participants in the consultation process and who will not participate? What was the consideration in the selection of participants? Which are the represented groups of people and what views are they presenting? The new health policy’s questions increase its comprehensiveness and ensure that the main objective achieved through all aspects (Scott et al. 2017).
Evaluation of health promotion capacity of the policy
For health promotion, the criteria for ensuring the success of the policy should entail the following objective attributes. The effectiveness of the policy activities on the objectives fulfillment, the costs s of all the programs to be undertaken, the technicality of the activities required and the political light of the whole process. Effectiveness measures the level of improvement the health sector will experience as a result of the proposed alternative health policy. Technically refers to the rate of availability of all the equipment needed for the facilitation of the process. The cost includes the number of funds required to ensure that all the proposed activities are done for health improvement. Political aspect refers to the political acceptability of the alternative proposed policy for health improvement. That is because health is a public issue and there is no way health activities can move on without the involvement of politics. For the establishment of appropriate health policies, there should be a firm political authority which will guarantee the success of the policy. Nevertheless, how valid and reliable the criteria is easier it’s for its measurement and implementation. Validity refers to the lack of contradiction of results despite the number of time measurements are done on the same objective. The analysis unit should correlate with the criteria (Lobo et al. 2014).
Conclusion
Health policy formulation, analysis, and evaluation is a critical process for an effective and influential policy. Health is a public factor and has a strong influence on the economy, social and political fields in the society. Therefore, there must be the incorporation of the three aspects for the success of a policy’s intervention. There is a need for ensuring that the policy meets the measurement criteria which involves its effectiveness, validity, technical standards and consultation groups recommended to contribute on views. Questions for every measurement can be asked so as to ensure the policy’s coverage is extensively comprehensive for the achievement of the set goals.
References
Bovens, M. (2007). Analyzing and assessing accountability: A conceptual framework 1. European law journal, 13(4), 447-468.
Collins, T. (2005). Health policy analysis: a simple tool for policymakers. Public Health, 119(3), 192-196.
Keleher, H., & MacDougall, C. (2015). Understanding health (No. Ed. 4). Oxford University Press.
Lobo, R., Petrich, M., & Burns, S. K. (2014). Supporting health promotion practitioners to undertake evaluation for program development. BMC public health, 14(1), 1315.
Scott, N., Stoové, M., Kelly, S. L., Wilson, D. P., & Hellard, M. E. (2017). Achieving 90-90-90 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) targets will not be enough to achieve the HIV incidence reduction target in Australia. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 66(7), 1019-1023.
Willis, E., Reynolds, L., & Keleher, H. (Eds.). (2016). Understanding the Australian health care system. Elsevier Health Sciences.