Policy Analysis essay

Running Head: POLICY ANALYSIS ESSAY                         1
POLICY ANALYSIS ESSAY                                3
POLICY ANALYSIS ESSAY
[MEN’S HEALTH POLICY]
Table of Contents
Introduction    3
The Problem and Context    3
Frame of Reference    4
Targets, Stakeholders and Their Representation    6
Policy Process    6
Policy Solutions    7
Effectiveness    8
Conclusion    9
References    11
Introduction
In Australia, there is a lack of agreement on what men's health entails. The lack of a broadly agreed definition has made it difficult to build state and national strategies on men's health. I believe that a lack of readiness to address men's health from a wide public health viewpoint has hampered the implementation of state and federal men's health initiatives. In particular, there has been little emphasis dedicated to lay perspectives on how men define and perceive health and how these connect to major policy issues such as men's health service utilisation (Vincent et al., 2018).
Professional interest in men's health has increased dramatically in Australia during the last decade. While there are several definitions of men's health, the lack of commitment to establishing and executing men's health policies at the state and federal levels is a common problem voiced in practically all-contemporary literature dealing to men's health in Australia. As mentioned by Griffith et al. (2020), despite the presence of a national women's health policy since 1989, Australia currently lacks a national men's health strategy. It would be naive to believe that simply adopting a policy would be enough to address all of the issues facing men's health.
Policy without well-supported programs is "piffle." Yet, even for those associated in men's health, there seems to be an insatiable desire to see the national government acknowledge the wide and distinctive issues of men's health (whether through a policy, position statement, or other document), as well as a willingness to fund a national programs to resolve these concerns.
The Problem and Context
Men's health is a word that the media, academics, health practitioners and the public commonly use. There are, however, important distinctions in how men's health can or should be characterised. While it is widely acknowledged that men's health encompasses more than male-specific reproductive organ illnesses such as prostate problems, testicular concerns and sexual dysfunction, these issues have remained a prominent element of the international debate on men's health (Baker, 2018).
Men's health criticism has likewise relied heavily on epidemiological statistics, with comparisons between men and women's health ruling the conversation. These definitions have made a significant contribution to a broader conceptualisation that suggests men's health is viewed as a disease or condition that is distinctive to men, that is much more prevalent in men, that is more severe in men, that has risk factors for men and that requires different treatments for men.
Even this definition, however, has restrictions. As noted by Kinlock et al. (2017), the importance of understanding men's health in connection to social determinants of health has been highlight in recent discourse. As a result, health equity has emerged as a prominent theme in contemporary men's health discourse, with a focus on allocating resources to the most marginalised and marginalised males.
Other factors that challenge efforts to define men's health, such as the growing amount of study on hegemonic masculinity and various masculinities, have also developed. At this point, it is worth contemplating what this definitional quandary entails for the evolution of men's health policy in Australia (Richardson, Smith, Robertson & Baker, 2019). The incorporation of lay viewpoints on health is one means of incorporating a larger conceptualisation of men's health into the current policy discussion and one that has been almost completely absent from this discussion to until.
Frame of Reference
Public health experts have suggested that in order to influence the creation of both good public policy and local health care programs, it is necessary to move beyond conventional areas of academic knowledge. Previous analysis has demonstrated that lay perspectives are especially important in understanding and tackling major public health issues. Furthermore, qualitative research focusing on popular knowledge thought to be more compelling in influencing policymakers than expert knowledge (Griffith, 2018).
When stakeholders have differing perspectives on how to address specific health challenges, such as in men's health, it is necessary to investigate the interaction between professional and community understandings in order to maximise potential. The continuation of a ‘men acting badly' perspective has been a critique of health professionals' rhetoric on men's health, particularly those linked with hegemonic masculinity.
As suggested by Lima and Schwarz (2018), the incorporation of lay perspectives on men's health improves the ability to move further than the male-deficit paradigm by allowing us to see men as actual people who live, work and play in their communities. Male consumer...