National Health Priority Areas

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National Health Priority Areas
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What is a National Health Priority Area?

• National Health Priority Areas (NHPAs) are
  diseases and conditions chosen for focused
  attention at a national level because of their
  significant contribution to the burden of illness
  and injury in the Australian community. 
• The seven NHPAs identified for particular
  attention are
• Arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions
• Asthma
• Cancer control
• Cardiovascular health
• Diabetes mellitus
• Injury prevention and control
• Mental health.

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What is the National Health Priority Areas
initiative?

• The NHPA initiative, established in 1996, is a
  program emphasising collaborative action between
  Commonwealth and State and Territory government,
  non-government organisations, health experts,
  clinicians and consumers, for specific diseases
  and conditions. The initiative recognises that
  the strategies for reducing the burden of illness
  should be pluralistic, encompassing the continuum
  of care from prevention through to treatment,
  management and maintenance, and based on
  appropriate research and data sources.

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• By targeting specific areas that impose high
  social and financial costs on Australian society,
  collaborative action can achieve significant and
  cost-effective advances in improving the health
  status of Australians. The diseases and
  conditions targeted under the NHPA initiative
  were chosen because through appropriate and
  focused attention significant gains in the health
  of Australias population can be achieved.

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Risk factors
NHPA diseaseor condition smoking Physical inactivity Poor diet nutrition Excess body weight High blood pressure High cholesterol
Type 2 Diabetes   X X X    
Asthma X          
Coronary heart disease X X X X X X
Stroke X X X X X X
Lung cancer X          
Colorectal cancer   X X X    
Osteoarthritis X X X
osteoporosis X X
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Tobacco smoking

• Of all the health risk factors, smoking is
  responsible for the greatest burden of disease in
  Australia, around 12 of the total burden of
  disease in males and 7 in females in 1996.
• Cigarettes and other tobacco products contain
  carcinogens (cancer-causing agents), nicotine (an
  addictive agent) and numerous other poisonous
  substances. People who use tobacco have an
  increased risk of developing coronary heart
  disease, stroke, heart failure, peripheral
  vascular disease, lung cancer, cervical cancer
  and osteoporosis. These risks increase with the
  number of cigarettes smoked daily, with the
  number of years of smoking, and especially when
  the habit is started at an early age.
• Tobacco smoke affects not only the individual
  user, but also others who may be exposed to it.
  Environmental tobacco smoke has been shown to be
  associated particularly with the exacerbation of
  childhood respiratory diseases such as asthma.

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Poor diet and nutrition

• Poor diets often result from over-consumption of
  food in general, or diets high in energy-rich
  components such as fat. A poor diet may also be
  low in dietary fibres or complex carbohydrates,
  and deficient in certain vitamins and minerals.
  This contributes to coronary heart disease,
  stroke, Type 2 diabetes and some forms of cancer
  such as colorectal cancer and post-menopausal
  breast cancer.
• Poor diet and nutrition also contributes to a
  variety of other health risk factors such as high
  blood pressure, excess weight and high blood
  cholesterol.

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Excess body weight

• Excess body weight has been clearly linked with
  increased risk of mortality and morbidity from
  heart and vascular diseases, such as coronary
  heart disease, stroke, heart failure and
  peripheral vascular disease. There is also
  substantial evidence for a causal relationship
  between excess body weight and increased risk for
  a number of NHPA diseases such as Type 2
  diabetes, gestational diabetes and some cancers
  such as colorectal cancer, prostate cancer and
  post-menopausal breast cancer.
• The risk of developing more than one NHPA disease
  or condition also increases with increasing
  levels of excess weight. Overweight was estimated
  to account for 4.3 of the total burden of
  disease in Australia in 1996

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High blood pressure

• High blood pressure is a major risk factor for a
  range of cardiovascular diseases. The risk of
  disease increases as the level of blood pressure
  increases. It can be controlled via changes in
  nutrition, weight, physical activity and
  medication. The burden of disease in Australia
  that can be attributed to high blood pressure was
  estimated to be more than 5 of the total burden
  in DALY terms among Australians in 1996.

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High blood cholesterol

• High blood cholesterol (hypercholesterolemia)
  means there is too much cholesterol (a fat-like
  substance) in the blood. This leads to the build
  up of cholesterol, on the walls of the arteries
  of the heart and other parts of the body, in a
  process called atherosclerosis, resulting in the
  arteries becoming clogged and having decreased or
  inhibited blood flow.
• High blood cholesterol is a major risk factor for
  coronary heart disease, the single greatest cause
  of death and disability in Australia. It is also
  associated with an increased risk of ischaemic
  stroke, heart failure and peripheral vascular
  disease. For most people, a diet high in
  saturated fat is the main factor that raises
  blood cholesterol levels. High blood cholesterol
  accounted for almost 3 of the total burden of
  disease of Australians in 1996.