Publication: Chronic diseases in Australia – the case for changing course

Source: Mitchell Institute

This is a background paper for the Mitchell Institute November 2014 policy forum Chronic diseases in Australia: The case for changing course. The paper, written by Dr Sharon Willcox with the Mitchell Institute and a national expert advisory group, provides the case for changing course in Australian policies.

It addresses the health and non‐health factors contributing to the prevalence of chronic diseases and puts forward four major directions for change. It is anticipated that this paper will promote debate in the policy community and encourage new action on chronic disease.

Read the Paper.

Resources: Measure your heart age with the JBS3 risk calculator

Eleven UK professional societies (Joint British Societies) involved with cardiovascular prevention have created an online risk calculator called JBS3.

From the JBS3 website:

The JBS3 risk calculator is a tool to help communicate the risk of CVD and the benefits of interventions, whether they are lifestyle or pharmacological… it has been designed for use by doctors and practitioners with their patients.

Read an interesting NHS Choices article about JBS3.
Go to the JBS3 website.

Website: Australian Indigenous ClinicalInfoNet

Funded by the Australian Department of Health & Ageing and launched this week, Australian Indigenous ClinicalInfoNet is a new online resource designed to:

…promote best practice in the prevention, identification and management of chronic disease in Indigenous Australians.

It covers the key chronic diseases contributing to the burden of disease in Indigenous people:

•   cardiovascular disease
•   diabetes
•   chronic respiratory disease
•   kidney disease
•   cancer

The web resource provides access to:

•   patient education materials
•   clinical guidelines and reference materials
•   clinical tools
•   systems and services information.

These resources cover the areas of:

•  prevention
•  diagnosis
•  treatment
•  drug therapy

Go to the Australian Indigenous ClinicalInfoNet website.