Australia's Public Health Spending Must Match the Size of Its Public Health Problem
The Australian Medical Association said it was very worried about the low level of public health expenditure across the country following this week's release of a report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).
The report, Public health expenditure in Australia 2006-07, showed total spending on public health activities was up 12.5 per cent since 1999-00. But the bulk of this increase came from organised immunisation programs, and public health still only accounted for less than two per cent of overall health spending in Australia.
AMA President, Dr Rosanna Capolingua, said the increases in funding for Commonwealth immunisation programs were always welcome but it was clear that other areas of public health had simply fallen off the agenda.
"More resources are needed for prevention initiatives at the 'upstream' end of the health system, otherwise, more resources and money will be needed to cover the cost of health problems such as smoking and obesity downstream," she said.
"Public health spending should not be viewed in isolation. We know that obesity costs Australia $58 billion a year - let alone the human cost and suffering. Tobacco costs the nation $31.5 billion each year. And one single fast food retailer increased its expenditure on media advertising in Australia by more than 800 per cent between 1983 and 2007.
"The federal and state/territory health departments only spent $1.7 billion on public health activities in 2006-07, and the proportion of health spending on public health stayed virtually the same since 1999-00. Australia's public health spending is a drop in the ocean."
Dr Capolingua said all tiers of government needed to make public health outcomes a prominent objective of the new federal-state health funding framework that was being developed for 2009.
"Public health activities are at the core of disease prevention. Putting money and resources in now will relieve some of the burden placed on our hospitals later," she said.
The AMA also looked forward to seeing how public health will be firmly integrated into the work of the Preventative Task Force and the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission.
"We need robust national goals and targets for public health achievements so that performance can be accurately measured, not only in terms of expenditure, but in terms of outcomes," Dr Capolingua said.
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