The health status of Australian children and adolescents over the past decades has generally improved. However, there are still some who experience markedly worse health, poorer developmental outcomes and generally reduced wellbeing than others in the population. The world in which they live in shape their health, development and wellbeing both short-term, and into adulthood. Therefore, physical, social, emotional and psychological health of Australia’s children and adolescents is essential. This essay will demonstrate the prominence of skin cancer, sexually transmitted infections, anorexia and underage alcohol misuse, thereby establishing the extent and severity of the impact, with emphasis on the need for action. Firstly, skin cancer is the most common yet most preventable cancer in Australia, having the highest incidence rates in the world (AIHW, 2012). The greatest environmental determinant is overexposure to sunlight, especially ultraviolet radiation (UVR), with annual UVR exposure increasing the risk of skin cancer (Summerville & Watt, 2003). Despite the life-threatening melanoma …show more content…
Therefore, Australian adolescents are at serious risk as there are approximately 25% of young people reported sexually active by 15 years-old, with numbers increasing to 50% by Year 12; only 40% practice safe sex and use a condom (ACYS, 2014).Therefore, they are at greater risk of contracting STIs as a consequence of inexperience and lack of knowledge concerning risks with unprotected sex and access to contraception, social pressure, frequency of partner change, substance use and unwillingness to talk with parents or their general practitioner (DoHA, 2005). Hence, the success of lowering the prevalence of STIs among adolescents relies heavily on the knowledge about reproductive matters and access to and use of effective
These brown coloured cancerous growths develop when unrepaired DNA has committed damage to the body’s skin cells. It is known that it is the most commonly triggered by vigorous amounts of sunshine, over excessive use of tanning bed and UV lights which result in making mutations in the skin that produces the skin cells to over multiply at a quick rate which can eventually form nasty tumours.
The National Skin Cancer Awareness Program represents the new public health approach. This is because it has been created to prevent and reduce the incidence of skin cancer among teenagers and young adults. It takes into account the social determinants that influence a person’s health. For example, due to the sun’s very strong UV rays, Australia is a very hot country and
EXCESSIVE SUN EXPOSURE AND SKIN CANCER IN AUSTRALIA Genet Degfaw Student ID No. 4559316 20 October 2017 Table of content 1. Introduction------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3 2. Background-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3-4 2.1 The importance of sunscreen in preventing skin cancer------------------------------------3 2.2 The Australian population at greater risk of skin cancer------------------------------------4 3.
Skin cancer is a very common form of cancer in Australia. People are exposed to ultraviolet radiation more extensively than anywhere else in the world. Cancer is a disease in which cells grow and divide aggressively. These cells invade and destroy other tissues and sometimes spread to other areas in the body.
Cancer is one of the leading cause of death in Australia and has a considerable social and economic influence on individuals, families and the community. Statistics shows that Australia has third highest cancer rate approximately 323 people being diagnosed per 100,000 in the world. (Begg & etal, 2007, pg.116). According to the recent disease study in burden of disease by WHO and Global Burden of disease study 2012, the findings of study showed 16% and 19% of the total disease burden in Australia (Moore & et al, 2007 pg.88)). Cancer is the sixth most expensive chronic disease due to the high expenditure of treatment and management compared to other chronic disease. It has been further described that approximately $4.5 billion were spent on cancer in 2008-09, accounting for 7% of total healthcare expenditure on chronic disease (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2013b, p.7) and 79% of total expenditure that spent on cancer patients who were admitted in hospital which is 20% more than the same expenditure that was spent on all
"The rates of skin cancer have expanded consistently since the 1920s uncovers the risk of the American fixation on getting a "solid" tan. Skin tumor is an infection where growth (harmful) cells are found on the external layer of the skin (epidermis). The three sorts of cells found in the epidermis are squamous cells, basal cells, and melanocytes. These cells in time develop to be carcinogenic. Consequently, the three sorts of skin tumors are squamous cell, basal cell, and melanoma. Melanoma is the deadliest and dangerous kind of growth. The quantity of individuals with melanoma has ascended in Scotland from 3.5 in 1979 to 10.6 for each 100,000 in 1998 for men and 7.0 to 13.1 for ladies. (Mill operator 945) Squamous cell and Basal cell skin
Teens end up getting sexually transmitted diseases because they are unaware of the consequences of unprotected sex. No abstinence-only program affected the incidence of unprotected vaginal sex (The Australian). Annually 3 million teenagers contract STDs from their partner (Robert Rector). Teens who have early sex not only suffer from STDs, they also have emotional and physical damage. Research shows that young people who become sexually
The third factor that plays a major role in causing skin cancer is the Ozone layer. It helps protect people from ultraviolet radiation. However, the ozone layer is shrinking and this is due to man-made products like sprays and combustion of cars that are emitted in the atmosphere. This process is allowing more ultraviolet penetration to the earth thus increasing risk of skin cancer (Bair, 1991, P. 367,368). Ultraviolet radiation are the chief causes for skin cancer because the UV radiation
Numerous sexual partners enables the chances of contracting an STI, such as Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, or Syphilis, to increase; that being said, statistics indicate that one in every five teens has had four or more sexual partners. Teens of the ages 15 through 19 are among the highest rates of the population infected with the previously mentioned sexually transmitted diseases. Teens engaging in sexual activity are often exposed to diseases without full understanding of the ease that these infections can be transmitted; students need to be exposed to the severe consequences in order to promote more cautious future decisions, like the amount of sexual encounters. Many young males and females never acquire information on the numerous sexually transmitted infections that they could catch and distribute nor how to prevent or treat such diseases. The statistics of high school students that document receiving counseling on STDs and STD testing at a routine checkup with their doctor meets low expectations, recording at 42.8 percent for females and only 26.4 percent for males. The high rates of infected teens could be directly related to the lack of knowledge they receive on the possible diseases that can be distributed through sex. Without proper knowledge on sexually transmitted diseases, the
The reason why STD's are so high among the youth is that some of the tactics don’t work as well as we would like. A big contributor is the scare tactic, where a parent or educator shows you the worst-case scenario of an
Over 15 million STD’s are contracted in the U.S. each year (Koumans et al., 2005). Over one one-fifth of these cases involve two of the most commonly known STDs: chlamydia and gonorrhea (Koumans et al., 2005) Unfortunately, most of the individuals who get infected with these diseases fall into the age range of 15-24 years old (Koumans et al., 2005). According to Wyatt & Oswalt (2014), almost half of all STD’s contracted each year are by young people ages 15-24 years old. Moreover, the data shows that, “45% of herpes infections, 70% of gonorrhea infections, 63% of chlamydia infections, and 49% of HPV infections occur among youth between the ages of 15-24 years” (Wyatt & Oswalt, 2014). Given that many college students are between the ages of 18-24 years, it is important that schools focus on educating students about the risk of
Throughout recent years, addressing the subject of sexual and reproductive health among Australians has become paramount due to continuously emerging health concerns, particularly among adolescents and younger people.
We have all heard the stories about the rise in teenage pregnancies, girls dropping out of school to care for their newborns, and even those who get pregnant on purpose. This new trend is everywhere. Most parents fail to have the “talk” with their children and are left without the proper education regarding sex until its too late. With the current rates of teenage pregnancy correlated with the current rates of spreading epidemics of STD’s and HIV/AIDS, steps should be taken in an effort to aid the situation. Schools are a main source of information and education for teens, and are in a unique position that can provide adolescents with knowledgeable skills and understanding that promote sexual health. With consistent speculation surrounding
Over the last several years, the total number of skin cancer (melanoma) cases in Australia has been rising dramatically. Evidence of this can be seen with statistics provided by the Cancer Council of Australia. They determined that melanoma is most common form of cancer for individuals between the ages of 15 and 44 years of age. To make matters worse over 1 million people are screened for this disease every single year. This is illustrating how some kind of increased protection is required to protect consumers against the sun's ultra violet rays. ("Skin Cancer Facts and Figures," 2012)
1. Light-colored skin and a history of sun exposure is the main cause of this type of cancer. Men are affected more often than women.