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Media Release

3 September 2009

Tackling disadvantage to improve health outcomes

Yarra City Council will give priority to programs which improve the health of disadvantaged community members under its draft Municipal Public Health Plan (MPHP).

Yarra Mayor Cr Amanda Stone said Council was calling for feedback on the draft MPHP 2009-2013, which sets out the key health issues for the municipality and identifies how Council intends to improve health over the next four years.

Cr Stone said research undertaken for the MPHP demonstrated how much social and economic disadvantage affected health outcomes. In Yarra, 9% of the population is considered to be highly disadvantaged, a proportion of disadvantage that is nearly 30 times higher than for the whole of Victoria.

“Yarra has a pattern of death and disease in which avoidable conditions such as heart and lung disease, diabetes and suicide dominate, and in which people’s health is profoundly affected by social inequality,” Cr Stone said.

“The only good thing about these sobering facts is they can be changed with united and concerted action,” she said.

She said the key health facts in Yarra were:

Diabetes is the municipality’s highest cause of avoidable hospitalisations, accounting for more than 10 times more “hospital bed days” than any other condition
Heart disease is the highest cause of avoidable deaths
Lung cancer is the second highest cause of avoidable deaths
Alcohol-related conditions are the fourth highest cause of avoidable deaths
Depression caused the second highest burden of disease (a term which refers to years of healthy life lost, premature deaths and number of cases), accounting for 7% of poor health, which was higher than for Victoria.

Cr Stone said the MPHP set Council four priority areas to improve the health of the community:

Ensuring healthier eating and a physically active community
Reducing and minimising the harm from tobacco, alcohol and other drugs
Improving mental health
Improving Indigenous health.

As part of the MPHP, Council will develop annual health action plans. The actions in the first year of the plan are to engage community partners including local health and community agencies and support service providers, and undertake advocacy on health issues.

Cr Stone encouraged local community members to provide feedback on the draft MPHP, which is available at all five Yarra Libraries branches, at the Collingwood and Richmond Town Halls or from www.yarracity.vic.gov.au/consultation.

Feedback should be provided to Council’s Health Planner Sophie Gale at Yarra City Council, P.O. Box 168, Richmond, 3121 or at Sophie.Gale@yarracity.vic.gov.au by Monday 21 September.

Further information

For media enquiries about this issue, please contact:
Ainslie Gowan
Coordinator Communications and Public Relations
Richmond Town Hall
333 Bridge Road Richmond
Telephone 9205 5177, 0400 933 700
Email ainslie.gowan@yarracity.vic.gov.au

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