The Federal Health Department is looking for additional feedback on the National Preventive Health Strategy ahead of its final launch in mid-2021.
The strategy has been under development since September 2019 and is intended to help people improve their health at all stages of life, through early intervention, better information, targeting risk factors, and addressing the broader causes of poor health and wellbeing.
In September 2020, the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) made a submission to the expert steering committee guiding the strategy’s development.
It noted local government’s clear understanding of the importance of healthy communities and creating spaces and places suitable for recreation and exercise – and it provided examples of local government preventative health activities implemented individually or in partnership with other levels of government and private partners.
The submission also advised that councils require further funding assistance to be able to contribute significantly to preventative health, and it called on the Commonwealth to increase preventative health funding at local level through a Local Government Place-Based Preventative Health and Activity Program of $100 million over four years.
The draft strategy will be available online for six weeks, with feedback possible up until 19 April.