Injury Prevention
Injury prevention and control was endorsed as a national health priority by Australian Health Ministers in 1986 in recognition of the national burden of injury.
The Strategic Injury Prevention Partnership, a sub-committee of the National Public Health Partnership, has been formed to oversee the development of the National Injury Prevention Plan: Priorities for 2001-2003. The Partnership will also provide advice on future directions for injury prevention. Australian Health Ministers have endorsed the National Injury Prevention Plan. The Strategic Injury Prevention Partnership comprises representatives of the of Commonwealth, State and Territory governments, health professionals and consumers.
Four injury areas are identified as priorities under the National Injury Prevention Plan: Priorities for 2001-03. These are:
- falls in older people;
- falls in children;
- drowning; and
- poisoning in children.
These areas have been chosen based on evidence of injury burden and potential gains, effectiveness, cost benefit, acceptability of a range of interventions and a clear and actionable role for the health sector.
The Plan identifies strategies, actions, better practice and evidence-based interventions to assist in reducing injuries in these four priority areas including a number of immediate actions by the health sector. It recommends a focus on coordination of work in these areas across jurisdictions and on identifying partnership opportunities across sectors.
Mental Health
The Australian network for promotion prevention and early intervention for mental health, AUSEINET, is developing networks for promoting evidence based practice.
The MindMatters initiatives contain a suite of programs provided to schools to develop a whole school approach to mental health promotion and suicide prevention. It aims to enhance the development of school environments where young people feel safe, valued, engaged and purposeful. It includes support materials for young people who have high support needs and assists the school in engaging the families.
The Mindframe National Media Strategy has been developed to encourage the print and electronic media to report responsibly about mental illness and suicide. It contains printed resources, quick reference cards and a web site to provide information to the media when reporting.
Community Life will provide a national support structure for community capacity building for suicide prevention.
A resource kit has been developed to assist consumers of mental health services and their carers in advocating for the rights of those disabled by mental illness.
The National Mental Health Strategy
One in five Australians will experience mental illness. The National Mental Health Strategy adopted by all Health Ministers in April 1992, set directions for the reform of Australia's mental health services.
The National Mental Health Strategy is coordinated by the National Mental Health Working Group, which consists of State and Territory and Commonwealth officials, mental health service providers and mental health consumers. The aim of the Strategy is to:
- promote the health of the Australian community;
- where possible, prevent the development of mental health problems and mental disorders;
- reduce the impact of mental disorders on individuals, families and the community; and
- assure the rights of people with mental disorders.
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Vietnam Veterans Counselling Service
The Department of Veterans' Affairs through its Vietnam Veterans Counselling Service provides specialist care to veterans and their families in areas such as youth suicide prevention and post traumatic stress disorders. Working with the Australian Centre for Post-traumatic Mental Health, the Department of Veterans' Affairs accesses up to date research on a range of mental health needs of veterans and other service personnel.
Road Safety
The National Road Safety Strategy 2001-2010 was adopted by the Australian Transport Council in November 2000. The Council comprises Commonwealth, State and Territory Ministers with transport responsibility and includes an observer from local government. The Strategy provides a framework which complements the road safety strategies of State, Territory and Local governments.
The target of the strategy is to reduce the annual number of road fatalities per 100,000 population by 40%, from 9.3 in 1999 to no more than 5.6 in 2010. Achieving this target will save an estimated 3,500 lives by 2010.
HIV/AIDS
Australia's comprehensive national approach to responding to HIV/AIDS has long been regarded as being a world leader in the field. These strategies recognise a need for coordinated action in response to HIV. They aim to establish a partnership between affected communities, Governments at all levels and medical scientific and healthcare professionals. It expresses a commitment by the nation to the pursuit of two goals:
- Elimination of HIV; and
- Minimisation of the personal and social impacts of HIV infection.
New Born Screening for Hearing Impairment
The Commonwealth Government has recently established an early sceening initiative which routinely screens all infants from new borns to 16 weeks. The Program is based on research which indicates that babies who are diagnosed before the age of six months and who receive appropriate and consistent early intervention have significantly higher language levels than those children identified after the age of six months.
Significant permanent hearing impairment, if undetected will impede speech, language and cognitive development and, as a consequence, may impact on emotional and social well-being.
It is expected that with the implementation of this new initiative, the implications and costs associated with hearing impairment in infants will be reduced significantly and that the long term benefits will flow through, not only in the way of improved quality of life, but also in reducing the long term costs of health care for hearing impaired infants.