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Abstract
In Australia there is a gap between those with the best and poorest health, which has implications for the health outcomes of some of the most disadvantaged groups in the community. In this thesis, I present four applied research projects that were undertaken across a broad range of public health policy and practice areas for populations with diverse needs. The importance of addressing inequity experienced by these populations and the impact of the projects on public health knowledge, policy and practice in New South Wales (NSW) is explored.
The first project presents the outcomes of an emergency response exercise I conducted to test proposed home isolation and quarantine arrangements. Populations with diverse needs pose a unique challenge for home isolation and quarantine. The outcomes of the exercise have contributed to the development of public health policy, which will be used in future pandemic responses in NSW.
One component of the ‘The health of Aboriginal people of NSW: Report of the Chief Health Officer 2012’ is presented as the second project. The report provides baseline measurements on the health status of Aboriginal people and health system performance that can be used to monitor progress towards achieving national closing the gap targets.
Lung cancer is the fourth most common cancer in males and females, and the leading cause of cancer deaths in both sexes in NSW. The third project describes the outcomes of research on lung cancer awareness conducted with three culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities in Sydney and how I used this research to tailor a social marketing campaign on lung cancer awareness. The fourth project presents research I conducted with the Pacific Island community on barriers to immunisation, the outcomes of which were used to guide the implementation of catch-up immunisation clinics using a novel setting, a church environment. This thesis represents an important contribution to new public health knowledge in the areas of pandemic preparedness, Aboriginal health, facilitating earlier diagnosis of lung cancer and improving immunisation coverage in the Pacific Island community in NSW. The findings have implications for future public health interventions for populations in NSW with diverse health needs.