What is the burden of chronic disease?
Australia is facing an epidemic of chronic disease. Factors such as smoking, harmful alcohol use, poor nutrition and physical inactivity are causing a massive increase in chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, cancer and diabetes. Not only the leading cause of premature death in this country, these restrict how millions of Australians live every day.

Chronic diseases are the leading causes of death in Australia
This means that although Australians are living longer, we are living more years in ill health – largely due to preventable chronic disease.
More about prevention
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What is prevention?
Prevention is any action taken to protect and promote the health of populations. Prevention aims to prevent poor health, illness, injury and early death from occurring. -
How can I make the case for prevention?
Small changes in the prevalence of the risk factors for chronic disease are likely to lead to a significant reduction in the health burden.