Rural Proofing Policies for Health: Barriers to Policy Transfer for Australia

Abstract

A ‘rural proofing’ framework, which offers assessment of the potential impacts of policies on rural and remote communities, has been advocated for by state governments and interest groups throughout Australia. It is argued that rural proofing can be used to redress health inequities between urban and rural and remote communities. While implementation of rural proofing in some countries shows promising results, there are many social and spatial contexts that should be considered prior to its adoption in Australia. Rural proofing is not the best option for rural health policy in Australia. It has been imported from communities where the urban/rural divide is minimal. It is based on a rigid urban/rural binary model that targets disparity rather than accommodating the diversity of rural communities. Rural proofing concentrates on tick-the-box activities, where rural communities are not sufficiently consulted. There is no unified federal ministry in Australia with responsibility for rural and remote affairs. Considering potential shortcomings of rural proofing for health policies, it is imperative for Australia to have a specific rural health policy at both federal and state levels.

Understanding weight status and dietary intakes among Australian school children by remoteness: a cross-sectional study

“…1 Outcomes from separate logistic mixed models, school as random effect, adjusted for sex, grade and IRSAD tertile. IRSAD, Index of Relative Socio-economic Advantage and Disadvantage major city in health research has been called for in the literature (47) , however has rarely been implemented. Application of the MMM system has great potential to identify the needs of different regional and rural populations and enable tailoring of public health messaging and recommendations accordingly, in-part addressing heterogeneity across regional and rural communities.…”

“…Applying consistent and meaningful classification of rurality in health research is an ongoing issue both in Australia and internationally ( 13 , 25 ) , and a lack of consistent definitions may hamper attempts at targeting public health interventions and policies appropriately. Moving beyond the dichotomisation of major city and outside of major city in health research has been called for in the literature ( 47 ) , however has rarely been implemented. Application of the MMM system has great potential to identify the needs of different regional and rural populations and enable tailoring of public health messaging and recommendations accordingly, in-part addressing heterogeneity across regional and rural communities.…”