Directions for health policy

Proposal for Uniting Church in Australia NSW Synod 2002

Hard choices• What should Australia spend on health

care?

• What are the limits to health care?

• How should the available resources be allocated?

• What can Australia do about health inequities such as poor Indigenous health?

• What is appropriate health care at different stages of life?

Theological Overview• God created and values all human beings

• God gave the resources of the world to humankind, for the benefit of all, not a privileged few

• Health is part of salvation and redemption

• God calls us to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our God

• God is constantly working in the world

Our nature as human beings

• God created human beings

• We are physical beings

• We have emotions and intellect

• We are social and cultural beings

• We are part of the web of life

• We are spiritual beings

• Health requires a holistic approach

Understanding health, ill-health and disability

• There is no simple theology

• Illness, pain and disability are part of life

• People of faith may suffer serious illnesses and disability

• People with illness, pain and disability are loved by God

• Death is part of life - there is a time to live, and a time to die

• Healing and health are part of life

Why comment on health policy?• Christians value both health services and

spiritual healing• The church has a role in society,

commenting on public policy• Many areas of public policy affect human

health• The political role of the church is to provide

an alternative view, valuing the human person

• God holds governments accountable

Relationship between health and human needs

Health depends on human needs being met

• Food, shelter, clothing, water, sanitation

• Education, training, work

• Family, community, culture

• Spirituality, recreation

• Security and safety, freedom from violence and abuse

• Autonomy, respect, political participation

• Justice and human rights

• A healthy natural world

Elements of health careHealth care is more than treatment. It involves

• ensuring basic human needs are met

• access to healthy lifestyles

• prevention of illness, injury and trauma

• access to medical and surgical treatment

• access to appropriate medication

• access to other therapies

• access to appropriate support services

• access to cultural and spiritual support.

God takes a global perspectiveThe world is interconnected• God seeks health for the whole world• God values all human beings and wants all

to enjoy life, health, and wholeness.• What Australia does affects health

elsewhere in the world• Health care systems should be sustainable

world wide• Global justice is essential for the health of

humankind

God gave us power over the world

O God, you have made humankind little less than gods,

you have crowned us with glory and splendour,

made us lords over the work of your hands,

set all things at our feet:

sheep and oxen, all these,

yes, wild animals too,

birds of the air, fish in the sea,

travelling the paths of the ocean.

Threats to human healthThe health of humankind is threatened by

• militarism, arms race, violent resolution of disputes

• organised crime eg drug trade, gun trade

• the development of a single global market

• abuses of human rights - civil and political

• abuses of human rights - economic, social and cultural

Threats to human health 2The health of humankind is threatened by

• rich nations forcing poor nations to service unpayable national debt

• ecological irresponsibility eg Australian mining companies dumping cyanide in the river systems of Pacific Island nations

• ecological irresponsibility - air pollution, soil erosion, salination, climate change

• genetic modification of food or species without adequate controls

• materialism, consumerism and greed

The role of the churchThe church has many ways of contributing to

human health, such as

• Advocacy for justice

• Chaplaincy

• Prayer and spirituality

• Being a healing community

• Provision of services

Health as a human rightHealth as a human right requires priority for

• maternal, infant and child health

• environmental and industrial hygeine

• prevention and control of epidemics

• universal access to whatever medical and surgical treatments are available

A just health care systemA national health care system based on

principles of

• universality

• access

• equity

• efficiency (value for money)

• simplicity

• cultural appropriateness

Priority 1 Indigenous healthIndigenous health is less than the health of

other Australians

• Reconciliation is crucial to health

• Infrastructure

• Equal spending

• Control of their own health services

• The problem is political will

Priority 2 Mental healthMental health

• non- discrimination

• adequate funding for community mental health services

• better and more appropriate treatment for people with special needs

• holistic approach to services

• support for carers

• research

Priority 3 People with disabilityDisability

• Access and equity

• non-discrimination

• Appropriate treatment and services

• Holistic approach

Hard question 1 - limits• What are the limits to medical and surgical

treatment?

• What health care is appropriate at the end of life?

• When should artifical life support not be used?

Hard question 2 - resources and rationing

• What is the appropriate level of government health care spending?

• How should the system be structured so that the priority for use of health resources is need, not ability to pay?

• How should scarce resources be rationed?

Final wordGod works with humankind for health,

healing and wholeness