Health issues targeted
Region’s obesity problem likened to a ‘tsunami’ heading for sector
A NEW report shows the Darling Downs and West Moreton region has the highest rate of physical inactivity in the nation.
The area’s health network has warned that preventable, lifestyle-related diseases will put added strain on the health sector over the next decades if nothing is done.
According to the Darling Downs and West Moreton Primary Health Network’s 2017/18 Health Needs Assessment released this month, 70 per cent of adults in the area, which stretches from the Goondiwindi to Ipswich regions and takes in 10 local government areas, are obese or overweight.
The region is also the most physically inactive in the country, and lays claim to the fourth-largest number of female smokers nation-wide.
DDWMPHN CEO Merrilyn Strohfeldt described the region’s obesity issue as “a tsunami coming for the health industry”, with the impacts of today’s large number of overweight and obese to be felt by the health sector over the next 20 to 40 years.
The 2017/18 Health Needs Assessment is a “dynamic document” which identifies the region’s health issues and pinpoints where the PHN needs to spread its resources.
The Health Needs Assessment also showed the region had the highest rates of selfreported anxiety in the country, along with high suicide rates among young men.
The PHN’s role was as a connector, bringing services together for the benefit of the public, Mrs Strohfeldt said.
“We’ve already had discussions with (mayor) Paul Antonio, GPs, allied health professionals, gyms, and what we want to get happening in this space is a really big community program where we can look at how we can improve our health, in terms of eating better and moving more.”
The prevalence of chronic disease, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s health and equality, infant, child development and youth health, mental health, vulnerable, marginalised and hard-to-reach sectors of society, alcohol and drug use, and workforce capacity and well-being were also key areas the PHN will focus on as a result of the Health Needs Assessment.