Australian Health Ministers Conference - Canberra
4 August 1999
One In Four Aussie Kids Has Asthma - Ministers Agree On National Health Priority
Asthma is to become Australia's sixth National Health Priority Area - in recognition of the unacceptably high rates of
the disease which now affects one in four Australian primary school children.
Meeting in Canberra today, Australian Health Ministers agreed to the strategy, acknowledging the personal, social and
economic toll asthma was taking on the community.
More than two million Australians have asthma compared with 1.4 million ten years ago. Evidence also suggests that the
disease itself is becoming more severe.
Federal Minister for Health and Aged Care, Dr Michael Wooldridge, said almost 60 per cent of asthma deaths might be
preventable.
"The good news is that the actual number of deaths from asthma has been steadily decreasing from a peak of 964 in 1989
to 715 in 1997," Dr Wooldridge said.
"This reflects the ongoing success of better treatment and management options, education programs and campaigns about
the disease.
"However, with Australia now holding the dubious record of having one of the highest rates of asthma in the world, this
is clearly a debilitating and potentially life-threatening problem that requires immediate national attention.
Dr Wooldridge said that over the next year, a report on asthma would be developed so that a coordinated effort could be
made nationally to combat the problem.
He said asthma would now join the five other National Health Priority Areas, which were cardiovascular health, cancer
control, injury prevention and control, mental health and diabetes mellitus.
As well as affecting young children, one in seven teenagers and one in 10 adults have asthma.
In 1995-96, asthma was the most common reason for hospital admission among children while across all ages it ranked
seventh. Asthma is also one of the 10 most common reasons for seeing a GP.
Hosting the meeting in Canberra, ACT Health Minister, Michael Moore, said that in addition to the personal cost, the
national cost of asthma to the health system in 1993-94 was estimated at more than $470 million.
Mr Moore said that today's decision signalled a clear message that this prevalent disease, which affects so many young
people, was now a matter of top priority for all Governments.