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VICHealth and Human Development2023

VCE Health and Human Development 2023

Walkthrough of the 2023 VCE Health and Human Development exam: every question mapped with its average mark from the VCAA report, six worked answers (digital health, dietary guidelines, Ottawa Charter, Medicare, sustainability, the Afghanistan extended response), common errors, and flags for content the 2025 study design changed.

Marks
100
Time
120 min
Authority
VCAA
Updated
Open the official PDF Official marking notes

A walkthrough of the 2023 VCE Health and Human Development examination, the 100-mark paper sat on 3 November 2023. It maps all 13 questions with the average mark from the VCAA examination report, works six of the hardest or highest-value questions with our own model answers, and lists the specific errors the examiners saw. This paper was set on the previous study design, so every question that relies on content the current design dropped or renamed is flagged.

How to use this page

  • Questions are from the 2023 VCE Health and Human Development examination, copyright Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA). The paper is listed on the VCAA Health and Human Development examinations page. Each question is summarised in a line; open the official examination PDF for the graphs, data tables and case studies (digital health, DALY and death-rate graphs, the Kiribati education program, World AIDS Day and the three Afghanistan sources).
  • Answers and guidance are our own responses, written to the marking guidance in the 2023 Health and Human Development external assessment report (Word document). They are not copies of VCAA's sample answers. Averages quoted below come from the report's mark-distribution tables.
  • Study design. This paper was set on the previous study design (2018 to 2024). The current study design began in 2025. Most of the paper still maps onto the current course, but these parts do not:
    • Question 5b (Nutrition Australia): the current design no longer names Nutrition Australia. Healthy eating initiatives now centre on the Australian Dietary Guidelines, the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Guide to Healthy Eating.
    • Question 8 (income as a prerequisite of health): the WHO prerequisites for health are now taught in Unit 1 and are no longer an explicit Unit 3 and 4 dot point (VCAA's study design FAQs say they are implicit, for example in social justice and equity). The idea of health as a resource individually, nationally and globally is still on the course.
    • Question 11a (priority areas of Australia's aid program): the current design does not require the aid program's priority areas; it asks about the program's role in supporting the SDGs and the partnerships involved.
    • Question 12b (WHO strategic priorities): the three GPW 13 "strategic priorities" have been replaced by the WHO goal and six objectives of GPW 14 (2025 to 2028). Practise this question as "an objective of the WHO".
    • Question 12a and 13 (SDGs): still current, but note the current design pairs SDG 3 with SDGs 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 12 (SDG 13 has been replaced by SDG 12). SDG 5 is still named.
    • Question 2b: the current design no longer prescribes population groups, but explaining a stimulus variation with sociocultural and environmental factors (with commercial factors now treated as part of sociocultural factors) is still assessed.

Structure and timing

The paper was 100 marks in 2 hours of writing time, plus 15 minutes of reading time. There was one question and answer book of 13 compulsory questions, all short or extended answer, with no multiple choice and no calculator. Question 13 was a 10-mark extended response built on three sources.

That is 1.2 minutes per mark. A sensible plan:

  • Reading time: read Question 13's three sources and the Kiribati case study (Question 11) first, since they are the longest stimuli.
  • Questions 1 to 10 (71 marks): about 85 minutes, roughly 1.2 minutes per mark. The 1 and 2 mark definitions should take a minute or two each; bank time for the 6-mark analyses (Questions 4 and 6b).
  • Questions 11 and 12 (19 marks): about 22 minutes.
  • Question 13 (10 marks): at least 13 minutes, plus any time saved. Plan all three dot points before writing.

What this paper assessed

Averages are from the VCAA report. Topics are given by previous-design area of study, with current-design flags from the list above.

Unit 3: health and wellbeing, health status and health promotion in Australia

  • Q1a (1 mark): what "illness" is. Average 0.4 of 1 (67% scored zero).
  • Q1b (2 marks): explain the subjective nature of illness using an example. Average 0.8 of 2.
  • Q1c (2 marks): identify an example of optimal physical health and wellbeing and outline its influence on another dimension. Average 1.4 of 2.
  • Q2a (1 mark): describe mortality. Average 0.9 of 1.
  • Q2b (5 marks): stimulus: Indigenous Australians' injury and poisoning mortality rate is 2.0 times that of non-Indigenous Australians. Identify one environmental and one sociocultural factor and explain how each contributes to the difference. Average 3.0 of 5.
  • Q5a (4 marks): outline how adequate fibre intake improves two health status indicators, each linked to a different condition. Average 1.6 of 4.
  • Q5b (2 marks): describe how the work of Nutrition Australia could increase fibre intake. Average 0.8 of 2. Flag: Nutrition Australia is not named in the current design.
  • Q5c (4 marks): analyse strengths and weaknesses of the Australian Dietary Guidelines in increasing fibre intake. Average 1.2 of 4 (38% scored zero).
  • Q5d (2 marks): suggest one reason Australians find it hard to change their diets to increase fibre. Average 1.3 of 2.
  • Q6a (2 marks): describe the DALY as a measure of health status (stimulus: age-standardised DALY per 1000 for melanoma, road traffic injuries and lung cancer, 2003 to 2018). Average 0.9 of 2.
  • Q6b (6 marks): choose one condition from the graph; using the data and the Ottawa Charter action areas, analyse how health promotion might improve health status. Average 2.7 of 6.
  • Q7a (2 marks): identify two services covered by Medicare. Average 1.5 of 2.
  • Q7b (4 marks): discuss how Medicare promotes health and wellbeing in relation to funding and to equity, a different dimension for each. Average 1.0 of 4 (53% scored zero).
  • Q7c (2 marks): outline two reasons Australians buy private health insurance. Average 1.2 of 2.
  • Q8 (4 marks): explain why income is a prerequisite of health (WHO) at an individual and a global level. Average 1.8 of 4. Flag: prerequisites are no longer an explicit dot point.
  • Q10a (2 marks): stimulus: death rates per 100 000 from cardiovascular, respiratory and infectious diseases, 1907 to 2019. Using data, identify one trend. Average 1.1 of 2.
  • Q10b (2 marks): outline how one example of "old" public health improved death rates for one broad cause. Average 0.9 of 2.
  • Q10c (4 marks): describe one advantage and one limitation of the biomedical approach in achieving one improvement on the graph. Average 1.5 of 4.

Unit 4: global health and human development

  • Q3a (2 marks): stimulus: HDI 2021, the Philippines 0.699 (rank 116) and Cambodia 0.593 (rank 146). Use two HDI indicators to explain possible reasons for the difference. Average 0.8 of 2.
  • Q3b (2 marks): outline one advantage and one limitation of the HDI. Average 0.8 of 2.
  • Q4 (6 marks): stimulus: Australians using fitness devices, telehealth and My Health Record pathology results. Analyse the implications for health and wellbeing of using digital technologies for knowledge-sharing. Average 2.3 of 6.
  • Q9a (1 mark): what "sanitation" is. Average 0.4 of 1 (59% scored zero).
  • Q9b (2 marks): stimulus: in 2020 nearly 820 million children lacked basic handwashing facilities at school. Explain how this contributes to children's burden of disease. Average 1.2 of 2.
  • Q9c (3 marks): outline one social action individuals can take and justify how it could increase access to handwashing facilities. Average 1.4 of 3.
  • Q9d (4 marks): explain why environmental sustainability matters for two dimensions of health and wellbeing worldwide, with a different example for each. Average 1.0 of 4.
  • Q11a (2 marks): stimulus: the Kiribati Education Improvement Program (KEIP), 97 million dollars from 2011 to 2023, raised school floors and seawalls, a climate change curriculum and teacher training. Outline two priority areas of Australia's aid program reflected in KEIP. Average 0.6 of 2 (58% scored zero). Flag: aid program priority areas are no longer required.
  • Q11b (3 marks): identify and describe the type of aid in KEIP. Average 1.4 of 3.
  • Q11c (4 marks): describe two features of KEIP that could make it effective. Average 1.5 of 4.
  • Q11d (4 marks): explain how KEIP could improve human development. Average 1.6 of 4.
  • Q12a (2 marks): stimulus: WHO's World AIDS Day 2022 "Focus on equality" message. Describe one SDG, other than SDG 3, that could help reduce HIV/AIDS. Average 0.7 of 2 (56% scored zero).
  • Q12b (4 marks): identify and describe one WHO strategic priority reflected in the stimulus, with an example from it. Average 1.3 of 4 (46% scored zero). Flag: now the WHO goal and GPW 14 objectives.
  • Q13 (10 marks): three sources (Afghanistan and Australia data on female life expectancy, HDI, maternal mortality and nursing and midwifery personnel; global gender inequality statistics; Save the Children suspending operations after the Taliban banned women working for INGOs). Discuss inequality and discrimination and health status variations between low- and high-income countries, the contribution of SDG 5 to SDG 3, and the role of NGOs for women and girls. Average 2.4 of 10.

Worked practice questions (exam-style)

Worked example

Question 4 (6 marks): Digital technologies and knowledge-sharing

Based on Question 4 (6 marks). The stimulus shows three ways Australians use digital health technology: a wearable fitness device that records exercise, telehealth consultations, and secure access to pathology results through My Health Record. Analyse what using these technologies for knowledge-sharing means for health and wellbeing.

Model answer. Work through each technology in the stimulus, and for each one name the knowledge shared, the change it causes, and a specific aspect of a named dimension.

  1. Fitness device. The device shares data with the user about how much exercise they do and can prompt them when they fall short of a goal. Knowing this, a person is more likely to stay active, which helps them maintain a healthy body weight and good cardiorespiratory fitness, promoting physical health and wellbeing. Reaching goals the device reports can also build self-esteem, promoting mental health and wellbeing.
  2. Telehealth. A person in a rural area can share symptoms with, and receive advice from, a GP or specialist without travelling. Earlier advice and diagnosis means conditions such as asthma or type 2 diabetes can be managed sooner, helping the person stay free from complications and promoting physical health and wellbeing. It also saves travel time and cost, so they can keep working and seeing friends, supporting social health and wellbeing.
  3. My Health Record. Securely viewing pathology results means a person does not have to wait anxiously for a follow-up appointment to learn their results, reducing stress and anxiety and promoting mental health and wellbeing. Understanding their results also helps them follow their treatment plan.

Marker's note: The report said "implications" do not have to include both a positive and a negative; the answer must fit the stimulus. Arguing that pathology results could be hacked contradicts the stimulus, which says results are accessed securely. High-scoring answers used each of the three technologies and linked each to a specific aspect of a named dimension, and wrote "health and wellbeing" out in full before abbreviating it.

Worked example

Question 5c (4 marks): Australian Dietary Guidelines and fibre

Based on Question 5c (4 marks). Analyse the strengths and weaknesses of the Australian Dietary Guidelines in increasing fibre intake across the Australian population.

Model answer.

  • Strength 1. Guideline 2 encourages Australians to eat a wide variety of foods from the five food groups every day, including vegetables and legumes, fruit and wholegrain cereal foods. These are the main sources of fibre, so people who follow the guideline are likely to raise their fibre intake.
  • Strength 2. The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating, part of the guidelines, is a visual plate showing the proportions of each food group, with vegetables and grains taking the largest segments. Because it relies on pictures rather than text, it is easy to understand, so more people can see that high-fibre foods should make up most of their diet.
  • Weakness 1. The five written guidelines do not give serving sizes or the number of serves on their own. A person reading only the guidelines may think they eat "plenty" of vegetables but still fall short of the recommended serves, so their fibre intake stays low.
  • Weakness 2. Working out serves for mixed meals such as soups and casseroles is hard and time consuming, and the text may be difficult for people with low literacy or who do not speak English as a first language, so they may not act on it.

Marker's note: Only 5% scored full marks. The report said most students described features of the guidelines without saying why each was a strength or weakness for fibre intake. Keep the two parts of the document separate: a strength can draw on the full suite (the visual Australian Guide to Healthy Eating, serving sizes), while a weakness such as "no serving sizes" applies only to the five written guidelines.

Worked example

Question 6b (6 marks): Ottawa Charter and road traffic injuries

Based on Question 6b (6 marks). Choose one condition from the DALY graph (here, road traffic injuries to motor vehicle occupants). Using the graph and the Ottawa Charter action areas, analyse how health promotion might improve health status in Australia.

Model answer.

  • Use the data. Age-standardised DALY from road traffic injuries to motor vehicle occupants fell from about 3.1 per 1000 population in 2003 to about 1.5 per 1000 in 2018, roughly halving the burden.
  • Build healthy public policy. Laws on seatbelt use, blood alcohol limits, speed limits and mobile phone use while driving, backed by fines and loss of licence, reduce risky driving. Fewer crashes and less severe injuries lower both premature deaths (YLL) and years lived with long-term disability such as spinal injury (YLD), contributing to the fall in DALY.
  • Develop personal skills. Mass media road safety campaigns (for example Transport Accident Commission (TAC) advertising in Victoria) give drivers knowledge about the dangers of fatigue, speeding and drink driving, and the supervised driving hours learners must log before a probationary licence build practical driving skill, so drivers are more likely to drive safely, reducing injury incidence.
  • Create supportive environments. Safer roads (median barriers, roundabouts, rumble strips) and safer vehicles make crashes less likely and less severe, reducing deaths and serious injury among vehicle occupants and adding to the downward trend in DALY shown.

Marker's note: Average 2.7 of 6. The report said some students discussed the Ottawa Charter without linking it to the selected condition. High-scoring answers (the report's example used lung cancer) named action areas, gave a concrete example of each, explained the mechanism, and used the graph's values to show the improvement.

Worked example

Question 7b (4 marks): How Medicare promotes health and wellbeing

Based on Question 7b (4 marks). Discuss how Medicare promotes health and wellbeing through funding and through equity, using a different dimension of health and wellbeing for each.

Model answer.

  • Funding (physical health and wellbeing). Medicare is funded mainly through general taxation and the Medicare levy, and uses that money to cover treatment as a public patient in a public hospital and to subsidise GP and specialist consultations. Because a person needing surgery, such as removal of a tumour, does not face the full cost, they are more likely to get timely treatment, helping them become free from disease and restore the functioning of their body, promoting physical health and wellbeing.
  • Equity (mental health and wellbeing). The Medicare Safety Net provides extra rebates once a person's or family's out-of-pocket costs for Medicare services pass a threshold in a calendar year. People with chronic conditions who need frequent care therefore pay less for the rest of the year, reducing financial stress and anxiety and promoting mental health and wellbeing. Bulk billing, where the doctor accepts the Medicare rebate as full payment, similarly removes cost as a barrier for lower-income groups.

Marker's note: Average 1.0 of 4, with 53% scoring zero, one of the worst results on the paper. The report said discussion of how Medicare itself is funded was acceptable only if linked to improved health and wellbeing, and full marks needed a different dimension for each part. Name a specific mechanism (the levy, public hospital cover, the Safety Net) rather than repeating "funding" or "equity".

Worked example

Question 9d (4 marks): Environmental sustainability and global health

Based on Question 9d (4 marks). Explain why environmental sustainability matters for two dimensions of health and wellbeing globally, using a different example of environmental sustainability for each.

Model answer.

  1. Physical health and wellbeing: clean energy generation. Replacing coal-fired power with renewable energy reduces greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, so the environment is protected for future generations. Globally this slows climate change, reducing heatwaves and extreme weather that cause injury and heat stress, and lowers air pollution that causes respiratory disease, so more people worldwide can be free from disease and injury.
  2. Mental health and wellbeing: protecting water sources. Managing rivers and aquifers so they are not polluted or over-used means safe water remains available now and into the future. People around the world then face less worry about water shortages for drinking, cooking and farming, lowering stress and anxiety and promoting mental health and wellbeing.

Marker's note: Average 1.0 of 4. The report said many answers left out one of three things: a specific aspect of environmental sustainability (not just "being sustainable"), a reference to meeting the needs of future generations, and a link to health and wellbeing in a global context. Two different examples were required.

Worked example

Question 13 (10 marks): Inequality, SDG 5 and NGOs in Afghanistan

Based on Question 13 (10 marks). Using all three sources and your own knowledge, discuss how inequality and discrimination contribute to health status differences between low-income Afghanistan and high-income Australia, how SDG 5 (Gender equality) contributes to SDG 3 (Good health and well-being), and what NGOs do to improve the health and wellbeing and human development of women and girls in low-income countries like Afghanistan.

Model answer (structure and key points).

  1. Inequality, discrimination and health status. Source 1 shows Afghan women live about 18 fewer years than Australian women (67.6 against 85.8 years) and the maternal mortality ratio is 638 per 100 000 live births against 6. Discrimination limits girls' schooling (Source 2: 15 million girls of primary age will never learn to read or write, against 10 million boys), reducing health literacy and later access to family planning and antenatal care. Source 3 shows most Afghan women can only see female health professionals, and Source 1 shows Afghanistan has 4.46 nursing and midwifery personnel per 10 000 people against 131.4 in Australia, so complications in childbirth such as haemorrhage go untreated, raising maternal mortality and lowering female life expectancy. Keep every point tied to a health status measure.
  2. SDG 5 contributing to SDG 3. SDG 5 aims to end discrimination and violence against women and girls and harmful practices such as child marriage. Ending discrimination in employment would let female health workers practise, so women could get skilled care in pregnancy and birth, helping reduce the maternal mortality ratio (an SDG 3 target). Ending child marriage delays first pregnancies until girls' bodies are ready, reducing deaths of mothers and newborns. Reducing violence (Source 2: 1 in 3 women have experienced it) reduces injury and conditions such as depression and post-traumatic stress, supporting SDG 3's aim of promoting mental health.
  3. Role of NGOs. INGOs such as Save the Children employ female doctors, nurses, midwives and teachers (Source 3) and so can reach women and girls the state does not. Health care from female staff reduces disease and maternal deaths (health and wellbeing), while schooling and case work build girls' knowledge and skills, expanding their choices and ability to earn an income in future (human development). Source 3 also shows the limit: when female staff are banned, these services stop.

Marker's note: Average 2.4 of 10. The report scored structure, use and synthesis of the stimulus, own knowledge, and coverage of all three dot points. Common errors were writing about health and wellbeing when the first dot point asked about health status, explaining how a lack of progress on SDG 5 holds back SDG 3 instead of how achieving SDG 5 contributes to SDG 3, and linking NGOs to health and wellbeing but not to human development. Quote figures from each source.

Common errors students made

  • Q1a and 1b: many could not say what illness relates to (a person's own experience of a disease or injury they have). For subjectivity, the report said two people with the same severity of condition experiencing it differently is the point, not people with different severities.
  • Q1c: nutritious diet, physical activity and sleep were not accepted as examples of optimal physical health and wellbeing; they influence it but are not part of the dimension. "Having energy" did not show "optimal"; "adequate energy levels" did.
  • Q2a: "death" alone did not earn the mark for a "describe" question.
  • Q2b: answers had to refer to both Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians and link back to injury or poisoning. Generalisations should be worded as "more likely to", not as if they apply to every Indigenous Australian.
  • Q3a: naming two HDI indicators was not enough; students had to say which country was likely higher or lower on each.
  • Q3b: "the HDI gives a single statistic" is a characteristic, not an advantage; the advantage is that it allows easy comparison between countries.
  • Q5a: answers that only described the harm of low fibre scored nothing; the question asked about adequate intake improving indicators.
  • Q5b: naming a Nutrition Australia activity scored nothing without describing how it could raise fibre intake.
  • Q5d: only the first challenge was marked when students wrote two.
  • Q6a: students described burden of disease instead of the DALY, or said DALY is "measured in" YLL and YLD rather than calculated by adding them.
  • Q7a: "GPs" or "doctors" is not a service; "GP consultations" is.
  • Q7c: "taking pressure off the public system" is an advantage of private health insurance but not a reason an individual buys it.
  • Q8: many responses were ambiguous about whether they were describing individuals or the world; each level needed a clear context and a different aspect.
  • Q9a: hygiene and sanitation were confused; sanitation relates to the safe disposal of human waste and wastewater.
  • Q9b: full marks needed a link to DALY, YLL or YLD.
  • Q9c: "donating money to a country" was not realistic; donating to an NGO that runs handwashing programs was.
  • Q10a: state units, and use "around" or "approximately" when reading a line graph.
  • Q10b: a number of students gave biomedical examples, not "old" public health measures.
  • Q10c: students listed biomedical characteristics without saying why each was an advantage or limitation, or linked to two different improvements on the graph.
  • Q11a: students mixed current and previous aid program priorities; either set was accepted, but not a mix.
  • Q11c: naming a feature of effective aid scored nothing without showing how it appears in KEIP and why it makes the program effective.
  • Q11d: listing aspects of human development without linking them to the program did not score.
  • Q12a: restating the SDG's name, or a vague line such as "children can be educated about HIV", did not describe the goal. Name the SDG, not just its number.
  • Q12b: "universal health care" is not the same as "universal health coverage"; many answers lacked the detail for 4 marks.
  • Q13: see the marker's note above; context (health status, contribution of SDG 5, human development) decided the marks.

How to use this paper

Sit the paper in 2 hours with 15 minutes of reading, then mark each answer against the report's criteria rather than against a sample answer: did you use the stimulus, name a specific dimension or indicator, and answer in the context asked? The weakest areas in 2023 (Medicare's funding and equity, the dietary guidelines, SDGs and WHO questions, and the 10-mark extended response) are still on the current course, so they repay a rewrite. When practising Questions 11a and 12b, swap in the current requirements: the aid program's role in supporting the SDGs, and the WHO's GPW 14 objectives. Treat Question 5b and Question 8 as optional extra practice.

Use this paper well

  1. Sit the paper under exam conditions (120 minutes, 100 marks).
  2. Mark yourself against the official VCAA marking notes.
  3. Compare against the Health and Human Development hub to find the syllabus dot points this paper tested.

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