The two-yearly report card from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), Australia’s Health 2018, shows a population that’s living longer but with more chronic disease. And this disease is often underpinned by lifestyle factors.
Half of Australians have a chronic health condition such as diabetes, heart disease, a mental illness, or cancer. Importantly almost a quarter have two or more chronic conditions, making care particularly complex.
Many chronic health conditions share preventable risk factors such as smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and not getting enough exercise. In fact, around one-third of our disease burden is due to preventable risk factors.
AIHW CEO Barry Sandison said when it comes to obesity it’s not just a case of poor diet or exercise habits. Rather a range of factors – biological, behavioural, social and environmental – contribute to the likelihood of becoming obese, including rising work hours, the walkability of our environs, increasingly sedentary jobs, larger portion sizes and food advertising.
The why of poor health
The report shows a clear connection between socioeconomics and health. Those in the lowest group are denied access to health services due to cost, and they are more than twice as likely to avoid seeing a dentist or fill a prescription.
Improving Indigenous health
There have been some big improvements in the health of Aboriginal Australians, but challenges remain.
Life expectancy has improved and with higher education has come better health outcomes. There have also been reductions in smoking rates and alcohol use, as well as improvement in child death rates.
However the report shows that social factors are key to further progress. Factors such as employment, education and income are responsible for about one-third of the health gap. By comparison, factors such as smoking and obesity account for one-fifth of the health gap.