Major Health Issues in Australia

This essay discusses the three primary health issues in Australia: cancer, cardiovascular disease, and mental disorders. It highlights their significance, impact, cultural, economic and social influencing factors, and major interventions and action plans.

Running head: MAJOR HEALTH ISSUES IN AUSTRALIA
Major Health Issues in Australia
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1MAJOR HEALTH ISSUES IN AUSTRALIA
In Australia, there are a number of chronic disease that are becoming more popular in
Australian population due to the increasing age of the population and as a result, the total number
of population is also increasing. The most common chronic diseases in Australia are cancer,
mental disorders, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, mental health issues,
musculoskeletal disorders, and other health issues. Among them, Cancer is the most common
health issues causing 19% of total health issue burden ("Cancer in Australia statistics | Cancer
Australia", 2018). After Cancer, cardiovascular disease, mainly stroke and heart disease, in the
second position. Along with this, mental health issues are in the third position in overall disease
burden in Australia. In this essay, the three primary health issues that is cancer, cardiovascular
disease and mental disorders, are discussed. In addition to this, the significance, impact, cultural,
economic and social influencing factors of the diseases are highlighted. Moreover, major
interventions and action plans are described in Brief manner.
Cancer is a major concern for Australian population. According to the report of 2014,
127,887 cancer patient was detected and among them 69,945 were male and 57,942 were female.
In 2018, it is estimated that, 138231 cases of cancer will be diagnosed and among them 74644
will be male and 63676 will be female. The death cases due to cancer in 2016 were 45782 and
the male mortality rate is higher than that of the female mortality rate. In , 2018 the figure will
touch the 48,586 deaths (approx.). The age-standardized mortality rate in 2016 was 159/100,000
persons (198 males and 128 females) which was lower than that of the 2014 ( 484 cases/100,000)
("Cancer in Australia statistics | Cancer Australia", 2018). From the data, it is seen that, the male
population are mainly affected by the cancer and death rate is also higher in the male population.
It is seen that, lower socioeconomic population, who are living in rural and remote location, have
lower survival rate in cancer (Tervonen et al., 2017). In Australia, the Aboriginal and Torres

2MAJOR HEALTH ISSUES IN AUSTRALIA
Strait Islander peoples have higher suffering mortality rate in cancer than the non-indigenous
Australian and it is associated with bad social practice. For example, practice of tobacco
smoking, alcohol consumption is directly associated with lung cancer (Aranda, 2018). Health
department of Australia give funds for prevention and detection of cancer by enhancing
screening programs, supports are given to the cancer patients and also to the health care persons
who are involved in cancer treatment. In order to reduce the cancer cases, more awareness
programme should be conducted in rural areas to educate the people about the disease. Cancer
Australia, Australian institute of Health and Welfare, National Health and Medical Research
Council are mainly associated with the cancer treatment and various awareness programs
("Department of Health | Cancer control", 2018).
In Australia, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is second common major health issues and it
includes various diseases related to heart and blood vessels for example heart failure, stroke,
cardiomyopathy. According to a report of Department of Health, in Australia , almost 4.2 million
of people had complained about the CVD in 2014-15 and among them almost 1.2 million have
heart disease and stroke. In addition to this, 2.6 million ( approx.) had the problem of
hypertension. In 2015, 29% Australian had died due to CVD (Health.gov.au, 2018). The impact
of CVD is higher on the male, elderly populations, indigenous populations. Indigenous
Australian have the double mortality rate than that of the non-indigenous populations. It is
estimated that almost 69000 Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal were affected with CVD in
2014-15. The lower socioeconomic group of people have 43% more death rate than that of the
higher socioeconomic population(Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2018). Government
of Australia provides subsidies medicine of CVD, launches Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme for
the CVD patients. To detect the CVD in early stages, health assessment items are also available

3MAJOR HEALTH ISSUES IN AUSTRALIA
for the people of various age group who can mostly be affected by CVD. Indigenous population
also get the same facilities like non-indigenous Australian. Moreover, funds are provided to
various foundation for more research about the disease. Awareness programme can be launched
to educate people about this disease (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2018).
Mental illness is quite common health issues in world and Australia is not completely
different from the world. In Australia mental illness is seen among all type of population for
example children are also affected along with adult population. Almost 7.3 million people in
Australia are suffering from mental illness and they are in the age group of 16-85. In case of
children ( age group 4 years to 17 years) the number is almost 560,000 in 2012-13 time period.
According to the report of Mental Health Services in Australia, 1 out of 5 was suffering from
common mental disorder and the estimation is based on the amount of 2016
population( estimated) ("Mental Health - 2018", 2018). Among them, the most common mental
disorder is anxiety disorder ( 14.4%). It is seen that, adolescent and child male have higher
suffering rate ( 16.3%) than that of the females (11.5%) ("Mental health services in Australia,
Prevalence and policies - Australian Institute of Health and Welfare", 2018). Mental illness is
stimulated by the lower socioeconomic condition. It is seen that, a specific population group are
mostly affected by the illness due to their lower socio economic status. In a study by Nasir et al. (
2018) indigenous population have higher rate of mental illness than that of the non- indigenous
Australian population. Indigenous people who are living in traditional lands have lower suffering
rate due to their cultural practices than those who are living in urban area. Australian
Government released funds for addressing this issue and National Mental Health Plan was also
framed to reduce the impact of the disease. ("Mental health services in Australia, Prevalence and
policies - Australian Institute of Health and Welfare", 2018).

4MAJOR HEALTH ISSUES IN AUSTRALIA
Lastly, it can be concluded that Australia is in front of serious threat due the major health
issues in the population. It is quite evident that, the indigenous population are at higher risk zone
than that of the non-indigenous Australian due to their socioeconomic condition. However, non-
indigenous population are not in complete safe zone at all. However, Government has taken
several measures to reduce the prevalence of those diseases. Moreover, people should be more
aware of those diseases to combat against adverse conditions.

5MAJOR HEALTH ISSUES IN AUSTRALIA
References
Aranda, S. (2018). [online] Cancer.org.au. Available at:
https://www.cancer.org.au/content/pdf/CancerControlPolicy/Submissions/
Social_and_Cultural_Determinants_of_Indigenou_%20Health.pdf [Accessed 23 Oct.
2018].
Cancer in Australia statistics | Cancer Australia. (2018). Retrieved from
https://canceraustralia.gov.au/affected-cancer/what-cancer/cancer-australia-statistics
Department of Health | Cancer control. (2018). Retrieved from
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/content/cancer-control
Health.gov.au. (2018). Department of Health | Cardiovascular disease. [online] Available at:
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/content/chronic-cardio [Accessed
24 Oct. 2018].
Health.gov.au. (2018). Department of Health | Cardiovascular disease. [online] Available at:
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/content/chronic-cardio [Accessed
24 Oct. 2018].
Mental Health - 2018. (2018). Australian Medical Association. Retrieved from
https://ama.com.au/position-statement/mental-health-2018
Mental health services in Australia, Prevalence and policies - Australian Institute of Health and
Welfare. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/mental-health-
services/mental-health-services-in-australia/report-contents/summary/prevalence-and-
policies

6MAJOR HEALTH ISSUES IN AUSTRALIA
Nasir, B. F., Toombs, M. R., Kondalsamy-Chennakesavan, S., Kisely, S., Gill, N. S., Black,
E., ... & Nicholson, G. C. (2018). Common mental disorders among Indigenous people
living in regional, remote and metropolitan Australia: a cross-sectional study. BMJ
open, 8(6), e020196.
Tervonen, H. E., Aranda, S., Roder, D., You, H., Walton, R., Morrell, S., ... & Currow, D. C.
(2017). Cancer survival disparities worsening by socio-economic disadvantage over the
last 3 decades in new South Wales, Australia. BMC public health, 17(1), 691.