Data reveals region’s health impacts

A snapshot of Gippsland’s population has identified factors that are affecting people’s health and wellbeing.

A new fact sheet highlighting the issues has been prepared by Gippsland Primary Health Network whose chief executive officer Amanda Proposch said helped shaped the priorities to be addressed.

The data was gathered from many sources including local community and health professionals.

In Baw Baw, data showed 21.4 per cent of people were on mental health related prescriptions compared to 16.8 per cent across Victoria.

Cancer screening participation rates in Baw Baw are 50.7 and 50.6 per cent respectively for breast and bowel cancers and 55.1 per cent for cervical cancers.

On a number of criteria Gippsland ranked well below other areas of the state.

The population is much older than the state average (24.8 per cent of Gippsland residents were aged 65 or older compared to 16.8 per cent for the state) and 67.4 per cent of them are aged pensioners (state average 58.1 per cent).

Of the region’s children it was found 15.4 per cent were in low income or welfare dependent families (state figure 9.3 per cent) and five and six year-olds were more likely to have been bullied.

Almost eight per cent of adults said they did not have money to buy food at some stage during the past year and 12.5 per cent felt they were undervalued, figures that also exceeded the averages across Victoria.

Some of the other areas where Gippsland residents compared unfavourably with state figures were the numbers that smoked and consumed alcohol at a level that risked lifetime harm and full-time participation by 16 to 18 year-olds in secondary education.

Ms Proposch said health and social assistance was Gippsland’s biggest employer, growing by about 25 per cent over two years to last November.

She said GPHN would continue to work with the community and partners to identify solutions to health and wellbeing issues and urged people to read, discuss and provide feedback on the data snapshot via its website https://gphn.org.au