Socioeconomic factors and health
Australia is considered the 55th one of the populous country in this world and the most Populous Oceanian Country.
For health and well-being in Australia, socioeconomic factors are the major determinants. The income of a person, occupation level or education, tendencies of being healthy and other factors are involved in the health and well-being of the Australian population.
The government of Australia has tried to improve the overall health and well-being of the population by taking some initiatives and policies.
Over years Australians have changed their eating styles and trends of eating foods. They tend to eat fruits, vegetables, pulses, beans, and less refined sugar.
In the nutrition transition, the Australian population mainly focused on reducing fats and intaking those foods which are less in fat. They have adopted a western diet pattern and shifted from the unrefined type of foods to a diet rich in plant-derived high PUFA and total fats and refined carbohydrates. Major food groups contribute most to the total daily per capita weight of all the products such as milk products, fruit products, vegetables and milk products (aph.gov.au 2022).
Australia is one of the most secure nations with respect to food in the world. In this country, people have equal access to a wide range of nutritious and healthy foods. Australia has produced enough food for feeding 75 million people. It is meant to be a reliable, safe and efficient supply chain of food. Although it is identified from many reports that empty shelves of supermarkets and temporary food shortages are getting more common in Australia (Cameron et al. 2022). According to recent survey reports, it has been found that almost 77.9% of the respondents said food has become more expensive over the last decade in Australia. For the disruptions in food supply related to the pandemics of COVID 19 and extreme events of weather (aihw.gov.au 2022).
Recent studies have shown that Australian eating habits are presently less than ideal. Packaged snacks are more popular, people are eating readymade and comfort foods, eating fast foods which take less time to cook and also intaking discretionary sugar-sweetened drinks and foods (Browne et al. 2020) However, the good news is people also eating plant-based diets due to health, environmental and ethical concerns.
The working style has been changed into a sedentary lifestyle where less physical activity and a high intake of fast foods are involved. Although people are aware of health issues and doing exercise in their regular life (Denniss Woods and Lawrence 2021).
In 2017, it is estimated that 2 in 3 adults in Australia are overweight or obese. Australia had the 6th highest proportion of obese or overweight people who have age above 15 among the other 22 OECD member countries in 2019 (Esdaile et al. 2019).
Figure 1: Trends of obesity in Australia
(Source: aihw.gov.au, 2022)
The rate of obesity in adolescents and children aged 5 to 17 rose from 20% in 1995 to 25% between 2007 to 2008 which is relatively stable in the year 2017-2018. It declined to 17% in 2017-2019. The prevalence increased from 57 per cent to 67 per cent between 2017 to 2018 (aihw.gov.au, 2022).
Initiatives and policies by the Australian government
The increasing rate of obesity is linked with an increased risk of the cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. 1 million Australian people had been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes from 2017 to 2018. Almost 65% of all CVD related deaths have been found in Australia to occur in people with diabetes (health.gov.au 2022). The mortality rate in people with type 2 diabetes has doubled with the coexistence of CVD.
Australia exports many products of agriculture including barley, wheat, nuts, fruits, vegetables, poultry, sheep, cattle, milk, fruit and canola. Australia also produces soft drinks, beer and wine. However other cultures such as Chinese, Thai, French, African and Japanese cuisine have become an effective influence on the tastes of Australia. The chefs of Australia have combined the traditional style and flavor of European cooking with Asian flavors (aihw.gov.au, 2022).
Figure 2: Australian food processing industry
(Source: aph.gov.au, 2022)
The Australian processed food industry was relatively insulated from the competition of import and was enabled for surviving by supplying the domestic market. As per Australian Bureau of Statistics, in the period from 2003-4 to 2009 the processed food sector grew by 32.2% (aihw.gov.au, 2022). The industry has not appeared to be keeping up with the demand. In the past, the labour market has been changed as most of the laborers are from the regional area but now they have got education and decreased the interest of working as a laborer and increasing the labor wages. Due to increasing cost of the transports the Australian supply chain of processed food industry is getting expensive and also affects the ability of the processors.
In recent times intake of sugars have decreased and there are signs of consuming that may be leveling off or declining slightly. As per the statistics, 9.1% of the adults have aged 18 and over consumed of the sugar sweetened drinks per day.
National Obesity Strategy 2022-2032 is the 10 year framework for the action to reduce, resist and cure obesity and overweight in Australia. It aims to reduce the hospitalizations and death rate due to obesity. It also aims to reduce the health and national economic costs because of obesity (health.gov.au 2022). It focuses on prevention and also involves the actions for giving better support to the Australians who lives with the obesity to live their lives in healthy way. The partners of the Australian government have taken action to modify the present conditions of obesity that promote the overweight and can support those living with obesity and overweight (health.gov.au 2022). The aim of this policy is to make systematic changes to better support all Australians to balance a healthy weight, support for preventing weight gain or reducing weight in the people who are living with the overweight.
The National Prevention Strategy 2020-2030 is another policy that intends to improve the health of the Australian population. It aims to develop the system-based approach of the health system to make the healthcare system (health.gov.au 2022). Prioritizing health: Reforming Planning Laws to Reduce Overweight And Obesity In Australia is another policy. It aims to develop or plan the laws It has presented the limited role of the local governments for shaping the planning priorities (opc.org.au 2022). It has reformed the planning laws by the state governments for impacting the rates of obesity and to improve the health in communities of Australia. This policy mainly highlights the role of local governments in accessing fresh and healthy foods. It has shown the density of fast food outlets and SES (Kwon et al. 2022).
Food consumption trends in Australia
The above policies are intended to develop the overall health and nutritional status of the Australian population. These policies can help to gain the ideal health of the Australian population. It also eradicates the high prevalence rate of obesity (Lucas et al. 2017). These policies have included the Australian Dietary Guidelines that help the Australians to understand or make healthy food choices (health.gov.au 2022).
The Australian government, partners of government, Australian people are the main stakeholders of these policies (health.gov.au 2022).
The National Obesity Strategy 2022-2032 targets children, adolescents and adults. The National Prevention Strategy 2020-2030 targets men, women, boys and girls (health.gov.au 2022).
National Obesity Strategy 2022-2032 has the goal to halt the development and reverse the trend in the rate of obesity in the adults by 2030. It will eliminate obesity among adolescents and children aged of 2-17 years by 5% by 2030 (health.gov.au 2022). The prioritizing planning for reforming laws to reduce the obesity in the Australia mainly target to involve the local governments to reform the planning of laws regarding fresh food accessibility (preventioncentre.org.au, 2022). The National Prevention Strategy intends to develop and reverse the trend in the rate of obesity in the adults by 2030 and will reduce the obesity in the children and adolescents in adolescents and children by 2030.
Figure 3: Obesity among UK population
(Source: researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk, 2022)
In comparison to the prevalence of obesity, Australia has more prevalence or number of obesity cases than the United Kingdom. As per a report of UK parliament, 362 people are overweight among 1000 adults in England which is compared to less than Australian prevalence. Tackling obesity is a significant policy that has a great effectiveness in managing obesity in the UK. However, it is expected that the National Obesity Strategy will give a better result in Australia (opc.org.au 2022).
The strength of National Obesity Strategy 2022-2031 policy is that it has addressed the importance of creative, healthy, supportive and sustainable environments. It includes almost 23 strategies that can cover physical activity and food systems, skills and building knowledge and can focus on the interventions and supportive care of the health sector (Sainsbury et al. 2020). This policy can make changes and build an Australia that may encourage and enable healthy weight for all. This strategy or policy involves the National Obesity Summit and the national consultations. The National Prevention Strategy 2020-2030 is not only targeting the non-indigenous Australian population it also impacts the Aboriginal people.
The weakness of the National Obesity Strategy 2022-2032 is that it is lacking in the clear direction. It increases the health equity in the future. Prioritising health and reforming planning laws to reduce obesity policy can be not implemented or there is low possibility of achieving the target due to less interest of the local Australian government. The gaps of the policies may fulfilled by including the programmes and campaigns among workplace and schools.
The integrative type of context process result evaluation process indicates that this policy is working with the reduction in childhood obesity through the changing environments.
Obesity and related health issues
Evidence of better outcomes (preventioncentre.org.au, 2022). The National Obesity Strategy impacts the ability of a person to maintain a healthy weight. This policy
The gaps of the policies can be fulfilled by identifying the gaps and taking actions such as making a clear direction from the National Obesity Strategy 2022-2032 to management of obesity.
This policy includes the monitoring plan for assessing the progress. The AIHW framework is responsible for monitoring obesity and overweight in Australia. It also refines the framework for the evaluation and reporting purpose (sugarnutritionresource.org, 2022). These frameworks have included the indicators of obesity such as establishing and monitoring the indicators, developing and implementing the standard kind of approaches for creation, access and sharing of the data. It also involves regular evolution of BMI value and measuring the BMI to understand the obesity rate among the Australian population.
The policies for tackling the obesity and developing better healthy food environments are the major policies that intend to change the obesity and unhealthy diets that are leading the contributors to the poor health in Australia. For example, there are many policies such as Healthy Choices Made Easy, Roadmap to tackle obesity prevention are the policies that have been developed to modify the diets (sugarnutritionresource.org 2022). The Healthy Food Environment Policy Index has been formed for Australia to examine the overall extent to that governments in Australia have implemented the policies which are recommended globally for tackling the obesity and developing the better healthy food environments.
Conclusion
It is clear that these policies will give a better outcome in future as it will change the food and prevalence trends of obesity in Australia. The government has tried to make strict policies to change the food habits of the Australian population but the people need to be more participative and positive towards the policies. The policies cannot achieve the goals without cooperation and a positive attitude of the Australian population.
References
aihw.gov.au, 2022. Overweight and obesity – Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. [online] Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Available at: <https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-health/overweight-and-obesity> [Accessed 29 April 2022].
aph.gov.au, 2022. The future of the Australian processed food sector. Available at: https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BriefingBook44p/ProcessedFood [Accessed 29 April 2022].
Browne, J., Gilmore, M., Lock, M. and Backholer, K., 2020. First Nations peoples’ participation in the development of population-wide food and nutrition policy in Australia: a political economy and cultural safety analysis. International journal of health policy and management, pp.1-15.
Cameron, A.J., Oostenbach, L.H., Dean, S., Robinson, E., White, C.M., Vanderlee, L., Hammond, D. and Sacks, G., 2022. Consumption Frequency and Purchase Locations of Foods Prepared Outside the Home in Australia, 2018 International Food Policy Study. The Journal of Nutrition.
Denniss, E., Woods, J. and Lawrence, M., 2021. Promoting healthy and sustainable diets: barriers and enablers for successful policy activities in Australia. Health Promotion International, 36(6), pp.1633-1643.
Esdaile, E., Thow, A.M., Gill, T., Sacks, G., Golley, R., Love, P., Wen, L.M. and Rissel, C., 2019. National policies to prevent obesity in early childhood: Using policy mapping to compare policy lessons for Australia with six developed countries. Obesity reviews, 20(11), pp.1542-1556.
health.gov.au, 2022. National Obesity Strategy 2022–2032. Available at https://www.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2022/03/national-obesity-strategy-2022-2032.pdf [Accessed 29 April 2022].
health.gov.au(2022). National Preventive Health Strategy. Available at: https://www.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2021/12/national-preventive-health-strategy-2021-2030_1.pdf [Accessed 29 April 2022].
Kwon, J., Reeve, E., Mann, D., Swinburn, B. and Sacks, G., 2022. Benchmarking for accountability on obesity prevention: evaluation of the Healthy Food Environment Policy Index (Food-EPI) in Australia (2016–2020). Public health nutrition, 25(2), pp.488-497.
Lucas, Patricia Jane, Emma Patterson, Gary Sacks, Natassja Billich, and Charlotte Elizabeth Louise Evans. “Preschool and school meal policies: an overview of what we know about regulation, implementation, and impact on diet in the UK, Sweden, and Australia.” Nutrients 9, no. 7 (2017): 736.
opc.org.au (2022). Prioritising health: reforming planning laws to reduce overweight and obesity in australia. Available at https://www.opc.org.au/downloads/policy-briefs/reform-planning-laws-to-reduce-overweight-obesity.pdf [Accessed 29 April 2022].
preventioncentre.org.au (2022). Policies for tackling obesity and creating healthier food environments. Available at: https://wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Food-Policy-Index-Progress-Update-2019-Australia-FINAL.pdf [Accessed 29 April 2022].
preventioncentre.org.au (2022). Roadmap to tackle obesity prevention. Available at https://preventioncentre.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/1702_FB_SACKS.pdf [Accessed 29 April 2022].
researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk (2022). Obesity statistics. Available at https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN03336/SN03336.pdf [Accessed 29 April 2022].
Sainsbury, E., Magnusson, R., Thow, A.M. and Colagiuri, S., 2020. Explaining resistance to regulatory interventions to prevent obesity and improve nutrition: a case-study of a sugar-sweetened beverages tax in Australia. Food Policy, 93, p.101904.
sugarnutritionresource.org (2022). Australia’s national obesity strategy 2022-2032. Available at https://www.sugarnutritionresource.org/news-articles/australia-s-national-obesity-strategy-2022-2032 [Accessed 29 April 2022].
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