The latest figures from the annual National Health Survey put out last week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that
obesity is still on the rise in Australia. In 2006, 62 per cent of Australian men and 45 per cent of women are overweight or
obese - up from 52 and 37 per cent 10 years ago.
Contributory factors to increase in obesity include the rise of TV viewing, our preference for takeaway and pre-prepared foods,
the trend towards more sedentary jobs, and fewer opportunities for sport and physical exercise. Many men and women who are
overweight and obese lack self esteem and suffer social and work discrimination. Compounding the problems, diseases such as
heart disease, cancer, asthma, diabetes, dementia, arthritis and kidney disease are much more common, and more serious, in the
overweight or obese.
The cost to the economy is enormous. About $2.4 billion a year goes on the direct costs of treating obese and overweight people.
The indirect costs, lost work productivity, absenteeism and unemployment, are even higher at about $9 billion a year.
And these costs are going to keep rising because the percentage of people who are overweight or obese will rise. According
to the International Obesity Taskforce, by 2025 one in every three adults will be obese if current trends continue.
What are we doing about it?
Australian health authorities first became aware of the problem in the 1970s, but despite a series of reports calling for action,
there was little response from governments until 2002, when the state and federal health ministers set up a National Obesity
Taskforce, composed of doctors' groups, consumers' associations, retailers, food industry bodies, sporting bodies and others.
This task force is due to make initial recommendations to the federal government next month.
Some changes have already been made. In 2004 for example, the federal government committed $116 million over four years for
programs aimed at families and schools to promote nutrition and physical activities. In addition, from January 2006, GPs can
refer people with chronic illness due to obesity to an exercise physiologist and get a Medicare rebate.
However, the bad news is that so far these measures are having no perceptible effect on obesity levels and existing levels of
funding are a drop in the ocean compared to what's needed. It seems that existing programs, which rely on educating people to
change their behaviour, aren't working because they don't provide enough incentives. There is too much reliance on health
workers to treat the problem, especially GPs, who aren't given additional resources to manage obesity outside a typical
doctor's consultation.
Some experts, including Paul Gross, from the Institute of Health Economics and Technology Assessment, believe more radical
changes are necessary such as changes to Medicare, private health insurance, and workplace and tax legislation to give people
financial incentives to change their behaviour. They recommend:
- Giving employers financial incentives to offer nutrition and weight loss programs to employees, in exchange for a cut in the corporate tax rate;
- Allowing private health funds to give subsides or discounted premiums to members who enrol in such programs and maintain their weight loss (measures not allowed at present under the community rating system);
- Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) subsidies for selected weight loss drugs for people who are seriously obese, where considered appropriate by their doctors;
- Medicare rebates for accredited weight loss programs.
While there are additional costs to be borne by the government in all of this, Gross argues that for every dollar invested,
the government would save six dollars in improved productivity, reduced absenteeism and reduced drain on the health care dollar.
While it may sound radical, the latest figures suggest that new approaches are necessary in the face of Australia’s rising epidemic of obesity.