Media Statement - 20th November 2007
A Rudd Labor Government will make obesity a National Health Priority Area – to help tackle the increasing burden obesity is placing on the nation’s health system.
The current National Health Priority Areas are cancer control, injury prevention and control, cardiovascular health, diabetes mellitus, mental health, asthma, and arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions.
But more people are obese than suffer from several of the existing Health Priority Areas combined.
National Health Priority Areas are jointly identified by Commonwealth and State and Territory governments, to focus public attention and health policy on those areas that contribute most to the burden of illness in the community.
Currently, around three million Australians are obese, and more than 7 million Australians in total are overweight. These numbers are increasing rapidly – it is estimated that by 2020 a staggering 75 per cent of the population will be overweight or obese.
Obesity increases the risk of many chronic and potentially lethal diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and Type 2 diabetes. Yet many of these diseases are preventable with attention to lifestyle factors including proper nutrition and regular exercise.
The cost to the health system of treating obesity is significant. The total cost of obesity to the Australian economy – including productivity costs and lost wellbeing – has been estimated by Access Economics at $21 billion annually.
Making obesity one of the National Health Priority Areas will help drive collaborative efforts aimed at tackling obesity – between Commonwealth, state, territory and local governments, public and private sectors, and in local communities.
To bring a greater focus on prevention to the health system, Federal Labor has already committed to developing a National Preventative Health Strategy, supported by a National Preventative Health Taskforce. The Taskforce will identify long-term strategies and partnerships for tackling the burden of disease caused by obesity as a matter of priority.
Federal Labor has already committed to a series of down-payments on tackling the national obesity crisis. They include:
- $35 million to provide a Healthy Kids Check for all 4 year olds before they start school, and a Healthy Habits for Life guide for parents to help their kids stay fit and healthy.
- $12.8m to roll out the successful Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Gardens program to 190 schools around Australia, to encourage healthy eating at school.
- $1.7m to evaluate the benefits of successful community initiatives to tackle obesity, to ensure the lessons learned from successful obesity programs are shared.
- $3.5m in developing and distributing guidelines on healthy eating and physical activity in early childhood settings.
- $700,000 to support the Planning Institute of Australia, Australian Local Government Association and Heart Foundation’s Healthy Places, Healthy Spaces project, which will produce national guidelines for town planners on designing communities which encourage healthy lifestyles.
- Support for the long overdue national nutrition and physical activity survey funded by the Howard Government in this year’s budget.
As part of our broader approach to bringing a greater focus on prevention to the health system. Federal Labor will also:
- Commission the Treasury to produce a series of definitive reports on the impact of chronic disease on the Australian economy, and the economic benefits of a greater focus on prevention in health care.
- Broaden the focus of the major health care agreement between the Commonwealth and the States and Territories beyond hospital funding by developing a National Preventative Health Care Partnership.
- Shift the focus from so-called “six minute medicine” in general practice by beginning a reform process to provide incentives for GPs to practise quality preventative health care.
The Howard Government has had 11 years to act on the growing obesity problem – and they’ve comprehensively failed to do so.
Obesity is a serious national health problem which requires a national plan of action. Only Federal Labor will deliver this.