” Australians living in regional areas are more likely to be overweight or obese, according to a report released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).
A second report reveals a similar pattern in relation to daily tobacco smoking with adults in regional areas more likely to smoke daily than their city counterparts.
These reports highlight local areas where efforts can be targeted to reduce rates of smoking, overweight and obesity.
The results are intended to assist local communities in defining their priorities for improvements in health care and to better target and drive health system improvements specific to their local community’s needs.”
The Healthy Communities reports look at local-level variation in obesity and smoking rates across Australia’s Primary Health Network (PHN) areas.
” The release of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report on overweight and obesity rates should serve as a shocking wake up call for the Turnbull Government – stop sitting on your hands and start acting on this critical public health issue by putting a National Physical Activity Strategy in place
The Abbott-Turnbull Government has gutted preventative health programs and cut $368 million out of prevention.
This forced the closure of successful health promotion programs including the Healthy Children program which provided funding to states and territories to run physical activity and healthy eating programs for children in schools, early childhood centres and preschools.”
CATHERINE KING MP SHADOW MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND MEDICARE ( see full press release below )
Image above : Please note for specific data from our NACCHO 302 Clinics
Download NACCHO Healthy Futures
MyHealthyCommunities
MyHealthyCommunities is an interactive site that lets you see how your local health area is performing and how it compares against other similar areas.
The website is managed by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, a major national agency set up by the Australian Government to provide reliable, regular and relevant information and statistics on Australia’s health and welfare. We provide nationally consistent, locally relevant and comparable information about health care services in Australia.
The aim of this website is to provide information in a way that helps you to make informed decisions. By publicly reporting in this way we also aim to empower clinicians and service providers to drive improvements, and increase transparency and accountability within the health system.
http://www.myhealthycommunities.gov.au/
The first report, Healthy Communities: Overweight and obesity rates across Australia, 2014–15,
DOWNLOAD report Here
aihw_hc_report_overweight_and_obesity_report_december_2016
shows that the highest rate of overweight and obesity in adults was 73% in Country South Australia, while Northern Sydney had the lowest rate at 53% – still over half the adult population in that area who were overweight or obese.
When looking at just obesity (a body mass index of 30 and above) a wider variation was seen in adults across PHN areas.
‘With obesity we see even wider variation with 16% of adults who were shown to be obese in Central and Eastern Sydney, compared with 38% in Country South Australia. Again, the highest obesity rates were recorded in regional areas,’ said AIHW spokesperson Michael Frost.
Today’s second report, Healthy Communities: Tobacco smoking rates across Australia, 2014–15
Image above :
Please note for specific data from our NACCHO 302 Clinics
Download NACCHO Healthy Futures
For AIHW DOWNLOAD report here
aihw_hc_report_tobacco_smoking_rates_report_december_2016
shows that while daily smoking rates in Australia have continued to fall, they remain relatively high in some PHN areas – particularly regional areas.
‘Northern Sydney had the lowest rate of daily smoking at around 5%, while Western NSW had the highest rate of 23%,’ Mr Frost said.
‘Overall, regional PHN areas had higher smoking rates than city-based PHNs.’
Both reports are available on the MyHealthyCommunities website (http://www.myhealthycommunities.gov.au).
Opposition Response AUSTRALIA PAYING A HEAVY PRICE WHILE TURNBULL GOVERNMENT FAILS TO ACT ON OBESITY
Today’s release of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report on overweight and obesity rates should serve as a shocking wake up call for the Turnbull Government – stop sitting on your hands and start acting on this critical public health issue by putting a National Physical Activity Strategy in place.
The AIHW’s Healthy Communities report illustrates why overweight and obesity rates are a serious problem for the future of our health system, finding that around 64 per cent of Australian adults – 11.2 million – are now overweight or obese.
The Government needs to get serious and start putting in place serious strategies to combat this epidemic. We don’t need more inquiries – Australia needs action.
The Global Burden of Disease study identified dietary risk and high body mass index as the top two contributors to burden of disease – even higher than smoking – linked to conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer.
That’s why during the election, Labor committed to developing Australia’s first National Physical Activity Strategy.
Australia is falling behind the pack when it comes to tackling obesity – more than a dozen countries already have strategies in place to increase activity and reduce obesity.
We also committed to introduce a National Nutrition Framework, to work with food producers and retailers to expand the utilisation of the Health Star Rating system, something Labor developed in Government.
In contrast, the Abbott-Turnbull Government has gutted preventative health programs and cut $368 million out of prevention. This forced the closure of successful health promotion programs including the Healthy Children program which provided funding to states and territories to run physical activity and healthy eating programs for children in schools, early childhood centres and preschools.
Australia needs a Government prepared to take action in recognition of the cost of obesity and associated co-morbidities, and actively help Australians to change their behaviour. The Turnbull Government either doesn’t care, or isn’t up to the task.