Spend more on preventing ill health, advocacy group urges

Australia remains deeply focused on treating illness once established, rather than preventing ill health and creating healthy lives in the first place, according to the Australian Health Care Reform Alliance. 

The Chair of AHCRA, Mr Tony McBride, said that whilst Australia is an acknowledged world leader in addressing tobacco control, reducing HIV/AIDS, drastically cutting motor vehicle accidents, and immunisation, it seems to have stalled or gone backwards on equally important issues such as oral health, mental health, alcohol misuse, obesity, and health inequalities due to race, gender, and socioeconomic status.

Government spending on prevention has been less than 2% of total health spending for many years and is going further backwards since 2013. Mr McBride said that leading experts suggest an investment of 5% is required, but that it comes with longer-term benefits to Australians and the bottom line.