The paper makes use of the most recent available data. What is Health? The national President of the Public Health Association of Australia, Fran Baum, suggests that health has a cultural significance in modern society and argues:. Health is a particularly important concept in the modern west. In disenchanted, secular and materialist cultures, health acquires a greater symbolic importance.
Health substitutes for salvation and becomes a salvation of its own. Despite this significance in developed secular cultures the word health is difficult to define as it carries substantial social, professional and cultural baggage. Its contested nature is evident in the variety of ways it is defined by different groups of health professionals, health economists and consumers.
Commonly, definitions have tended to focus on ill health rather than health, that is: what health isn't rather than what it is. The limitations of health being defined as 'the absence of disease' led the World Health Organization WHO to define health as 'a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity'.
This widely used definition locates health within a social context and places an emphasis on positive experience. However, this somewhat utopian definition has been criticised as measurements of health are not available from a single indicator 8 and concepts such as 'well-being' are difficult to quantify. In the last decade or so, health as 'outcome' has been a prominent model used by Australian health departments in designing health care policy. Health outcome is commonly defined as a 'change in a patient's current and future health status that can be attributed to antecedent health care'.
At the October meeting of the Australian Health Ministers Advisory Council AHMAC , health as outcome was defined as 'a change in the health of an individual, a group of people or a population, which is wholly or partially attributable to an intervention or series of interventions'. Over the past three decades the health of Australians has continued to improve. Michael de Looper and Kuldeep Bhatia 12 of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, reviewed six broad categories; population, fertility and pregnancy, important causes of ill-health, mortality, health services and resources, and health determinants to conclude that Australia is one of the world's healthiest countries.
Infant mortality is low, at 5 deaths per in the first year of life and average life expectancy is approximately seventy-eight years. Table 1: Life Expectancy at Birth Table 2: Infant Mortality Rate Mortality is one of the best measures of community health or ill health. Approximately deaths are recorded in Australia each year. Male mortality continues to exceed female rates. Of the deaths recorded in Australia in , 68 were males and 60 were females. The five major causes of death in Australia are ischaemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease stroke , lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and colorectal cancer.
There has been a decline in levels of mortality for all areas of between 3. Life expectancy is another indicator of a population's health. Over the period to the average number of years of life remaining for men aged 65 increased from 12 to For women the increase in life expectancy for the same period improved from Over the past thirty-five years, from to , the life expectancy of men aged 65 increased to However, it should be noted that variations of health status are seen in different sub-populations.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples experience poorer health than the general Australian population. This is evident in life expectancy at birth in being years lower for Indigenous males and years lower for Indigenous females than for other Australians. The crude rate of hospitalisation among Indigenous populations is almost 50 per cent higher than for the total Australian population.
Costs of Disease. As a percentage of GDP, health care expenditure in was 8. This figure does not include the indirect cost of disease, such as, lost production, costs incurred by family members caring for patients, nor the costs of capital expenditure, community health services and public health programs. Does not include other public health services, community health services, ambulances, or medical aids and appliances.
Source: Mathers, C. Total health system costs for males increase with age, peaking in the age group years and for females peaking in the age group years, representing child-bearing and related genitourinary system health cost. The report compiled 20 goals and 65 targets which sought a national approach to improve health and reduce inequalities in health among population groups.
In these goals and targets were revised in the report Goals and Targets for Australia's Health in the Year and Beyond. Reductions in mortality and morbidity, reductions in health risk factors, improvements in health literacy, and the creation of health-supportive environments were the central components of this report. Better Health Outcomes for Australians was the report that further refined the goals and targets set out in the previous publications.
Four main areas for action were identified: cardiovascular health, cancer control, injury prevention and control, and mental health. Developments in Other Countries.
The movement towards preventive health is seen in initiatives occurring in other first world countries. Like Australia, countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom have developed national health programs that target major areas of disease cost and burden. Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation is a United Kingdom initiative, which aims to improve the health of the population as a whole by increasing the length of people's lives and the number of years people spend free from illness.
Four national priority areas have been identified and targets have been set for the year The UK government has committed 21 billion to the program and estimated that in reaching the set targets untimely deaths will be prevented. Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation identifies cancer, heart disease and stroke, accidents and mental health as its four national priority areas. In the United States, Healthy People is a federal government initiative which aims to increase the quality and years of healthy life, and reduce disparities in health among different population groups.
The program has identified 28 specific focus areas and objectives to improve health. Healthy People recognises that the adoption of goals and objectives will not of themselves improve population health but rather, are part of a larger, systematic approach to health improvement. This systematic approach comprises four key elements:.
Goals Objectives Determinants of health and Health status The initiative has built upon earlier 'Healthy People' initiatives. Although the US Department of Human Services and Health has administrative responsibility for the initiative, input has been provided from a diverse range of groups. The National Health Priority Areas initiative. In Australia, the National Health Priority Areas NHPA initiative seeks to bring a national health policy focus to diseases or conditions that have a major impact on the health of Australians and offer potential for significant health gain.
The six NHPA represent the disease groups with the largest cost burden. While precise figures on total costs in each NHPA are difficult to establish, the following table provides a estimate of disease costs in each area in Cardiovascular disease CVD accounts for more deaths and more health expenditure than any other disease or injury group in Australia. Cardiovascular diseases are all those which involve the heart and the circulation system.
Main forms of this disease in Australia are coronary heart disease, stroke and peripheral vascular disease. Behavioural factors such as smoking, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, physical inactivity, obesity and excessive alcohol use contribute significantly to the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases. In , cardiovascular diseases accounted for 53 or The majority of these deaths were due to coronary heart disease and stroke.
Men are more likely than women to die from coronary heart disease across all age groups. Women are more likely to die from stroke at ages higher than 84 years. Men from lower socio-economic status groups are 54 per cent more likely to die from coronary heart disease than men in higher socio-economic groups and women from lower socio-economic groups are per cent more likely to die from these diseases than their counterparts in higher socio-economic groups.
Indigenous male death rates from CVD are 2. Stroke is the cause of nearly 25 per cent of all chronic disability in Australia. About one-third of people who have a stroke are permanently disabled with a degree of paralysis, difficulty with communication and other problems which may impact on their quality of life and their ability to function in society.
Under the NHPA initiative progress is measured by time trends in risk factor prevalence, and morbidity and mortality. Progress in the 22 indicators for cardiovascular health and eight common risk factor indicators has been reviewed and reported upon.
Positive outcomes were noted in a number of areas. Death rates for CVD and stroke in the total population have decreased. The prevalence rates for tobacco smoking and high blood pressure have continued to fall. However, the prevalence of overweight and obesity continues to rise and there appears to be little change in recreational physical activity levels over the past twenty years.
Additionally, national targets for Indigenous populations for mortality, morbidity or risk factors are unlikely to be met. A Report on heart, stroke and vascular disease. A broad range of programs that occur at the Commonwealth, State and Territory levels contribute to or have the potential to contribute to achieving the targets in cardiovascular health. A selection of the more prominent programs is listed in Appendix 1. Cancer is a diverse group of diseases characterised by the proliferation and spread of abnormal cells.
On average, one in three men and one in four women are likely to develop cancer before the age of Each year approximately new cases of cancer are diagnosed in Australia. New cases of cancer are rising, however, this can be partially accounted for by population growth, an aging population and an increase in detection rates.
Cancer accounts for 29 per cent of male deaths and 25 per cent of female deaths. Eight cancers have been targeted in the cancer control priority area, including lung cancer, melanoma, non-melanocytic skin cancer, colorectal cancer, prostate cancer in males and cancer of the cervix and breast cancer in females.
In , non-Hodgkins Lymphoma was added to the list of priority cancers. Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer among males 13 new cases diagnosed each year , excluding non-melanocytic skin cancer.
Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer deaths among males. Among females, breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related mortality among women. Nearly new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed each year. Non-melanocytic skin cancer is the most common cancer in Australia with between and cases diagnosed each year.
This type of skin cancer is generally less life-threatening than melanoma. Australia has the highest incidence rate in the world of non-melanocytic skin cancer.
Twenty-six priority indicators have been set for the Cancer Control NHPA, including for cancers of the lung, breast, colorectum, prostrate, and cervix as well as melanoma. Archived content. See ABS Website for latest information and statistics. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Search for: Submit search query:.
Statistics Census Complete your survey About. Document Selection These documents will be presented in a new window. Stat Beta Data integration Request data. Want to help us improve our website? Provide feedback. Follow us on Proportion of persons who fell. Total with recent vehicle accident injury d.
Proportion of the population recently injured in a vehicle accident. Proportion of employed. Working for an income. Proportion injured c. Proportion who had time off d. Intermediate Clerical, Sales and Service Workers. Get citations as an Endnote file : Endnote. PDF Kb. Other formats. This report provides an overview of progress in the field of injury and identifies opportunities for improving injury prevention and control.
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