Report – Grattan Institute, 12 February 2023
The Australian Centre for Disease Control (ACDC): highway to health
Australian governments aren’t doing enough to stop chronic disease before it starts. Instead, we’re sleepwalking into a sicker future that will condemn millions of Australians to living with avoidable disease and disability.
Chronic conditions are the biggest killer in Australia, making up 85 per cent of the burden of disease, and contributing to 9 in 10 deaths. This burden is heaviest on the most disadvantaged Australians, who are twice as likely to have two or more chronic conditions. And the toll will keep growing, because many risk factors for chronic disease, such as obesity, are rising dramatically.
Australian governments have let a trifecta of practical and political challenges hold back chronic disease prevention: short-term thinking, vested interests, and lack of collaboration. They have resulted in piecemeal investment, stymied regulation efforts, and a leadership void.
The promised Australian Centre for Disease Control (ACDC) is an opportunity to get Australia back to the forefront. To do that, the ACDC must have chronic disease as a top priority, not a distant second to preventing infectious disease. And it needs to be at the heart of a new national system for prevention.
The ACDC should be a strong, independent, expert voice. It should advise governments on overarching, five-year national prevention strategies. It should weigh the evidence, assessing what works and setting priorities for prevention research.
Read the full report: The Australian Centre for Disease Control (ACDC): highway to health
