Health Inequity Experienced by Australian Paediatric Patients: Empirical Analyses of Case Reports

This book provides rare insight into how real children/adolescents’ lives unfold as a result of health inequity. The authors present the findings of empirical research into the health and social circumstances of 61 Australian children/adolescents, as reported by healthcare professionals who attended to their medical needs, revealing how healthcare professionals deal with health inequity on the ground. Profound inequities in the health and wellbeing of children/adolescents worldwide have been the focus of intense research for decades. The extent to which children/adolescents’ health and wellbeing is impacted by violence, poverty, their inability to access integrated healthcare services, parental and adolescent substance abuse, unemployment, poor living conditions, poor nutrition, a fractured social support network, disrupted education, and lack of transportation, is widely recognized. While essential, statistical analyses alone cannot reveal the faces of those experiencing health inequity. This work highlights the need for urgent coordinated action to address health inequity so that children and young people have a chance to lead a full life in good health. It is relevant to researchers and practitioners whose work relates to improving children and young people’s lives. “This book should be required reading for those who influence policies developed by all the sectors mentioned above and their funding and administrative bodies – and politicians in particular” (Anonymous Reviewer).

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1- Introduction.- Chapter 2 – Methods and methodology.- Chapter 3 – Overview of Social Determinants of Health Findings and Vignettes.- Chapter 4 – Results of health inequity analyses.- Chapter 5 – Discussion of findings on social determinants of health.- Chapter 6 – Challenges faced in addressing the needs of these children/young people.- Chapter 7 – Solutions adopted for these children/young people and their families.- Chapter 8 – Outcomes: How these children/young people and their families fared.- Chapter 9 - Discussion of challenges, solutions, and outcomes.- Chapter 10. Conclusions.

About the Author :
Dr Vicki Xafis is an ethicist, linguist, qualitative researcher, and educator and has held positions at numerous Australian universities and the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services. She is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Biomedical Ethics at the National University of Singapore. A highlight in Vicki’s career was setting up the Clinical Ethics Service at the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network (Sydney, Australia), with support from dedicated senior clinicians. Vicki was founding member and Secretary of the Perinatal Palliative Care Subcommittee (Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand – PSANZ) from 2013-2017 and an Executive Committee member of the Public Health Association of Australia (South Australian Branch) from 2011-2013. She remains a member of the PSANZ Policy Subcommittee and is a Cochrane review author.  Her greatest achievement and privilege in life is having made a small contribution to the lives of children, young people, and adults through teaching.