Page 643 - Week 02 - Thursday, 22 February 2018
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The ACT has the lowest mortality rate in the country. It is the only jurisdiction with a mortality rate below 500 deaths per 100,000 population. Our smoking rates have been decreasing due to ACT government initiatives and other joint initiatives tackling smoking. Our children have the equal lowest rate of obesity in the country. Our Indigenous community in the ACT is doing better, with the risk of long-term harm from alcohol decreasing as well.
The ACT also has a lower incidence of cancers, except for cervical cancer, compared to the national figures. We know there are areas where we can improve when it comes to health but we are heading in the right direction across many indicators. This ROGSÂ report shows that Canberra is one of the healthiest cities in the nation.
Medical science has long illustrated that there is an unequivocal link between conditions such as stroke, lung disease, type 2 diabetes, some cancers and risk factors such as physical inactivity, obesity, poor nutrition, harmful alcohol consumption and smoking. To ensure that we continue to improve our health system it is important that Canberrans understand and actively consider these risks and that our government is actively encouraging healthier lifestyles to help build awareness and support them on this journey.
We all know that living a healthy lifestyle provides immense benefits, not only for individuals but for our health system as well. It helps our health system to be more sustainable. The health of our Canberran population is a priority for this Labor government. One of the best ways to make our health system more sustainable is through addressing issues that arise from preventable illnesses. Our government understands this and we are making an effort to reduce key risk factors present, not only to make Canberrans healthier but also to reduce the pressures on our health system.
I am very pleased to be part of a government that is making the ACT a national leader on preventative health. I attended the preventative health forum in April last year. It brought together organisations and individuals to share experience and knowledge to inform the development of the ACT government’s preventative health strategy.
In the budget the ACT government invested $4 million over the next four years to invest in initiatives to support the new preventative health strategy. This will build on the significant investments and prevention work already being achieved through the healthy weight initiative to address rising obesity levels in the ACT. The preventative health strategy will align with the ongoing work to develop a new territory-wide health services framework that the minister has mentioned. We will also continue to work with participants who were at the forum in April, and interested organisations, as we continue to work on the development of the strategy. As the development of the preventative health strategy continues, we still have many initiatives that we have in place to support preventative health.
For example, as a government we are investing $2.7 million in the health promotion grants for initiatives that aim to improve the health of the ACT population. We provide grants to community-based organisations, through the healthy Canberra
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