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Health in Hunter New England |
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Foreword |
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Health in Hunter New England |
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Foreword |
This is the first edition of the Health in Hunter New England, a report of Hunter New England residents' health at a population level.
Working in collaboration with the community, Hunter New England Health aims to improve the health of the people in Hunter New England. To do this we need to measure the health of the Hunter New England and so document successes and areas that require continual improvement over time.
The Report takes a broad perspective, embracing the World Health Organisation's definition of health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. The NSW Health's vision for health is "Better health for all people in New South Wales through effective public health action to maintain, protect and promote health". Monitoring health status is the first step in the process of developing targeted programmes and interventions to address priority population health issues.
As such, the Health in Hunter New England is a timely and flexible vehicle for presenting health information to a wide range of potential users, and for highlighting population health priority issues. The report includes information on various social determinants of health such as income, and identifies health differentials that arise due to differing socioeconomic status. Improving the health and well being of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is a major goal of our service. Health is influenced by a range of interacting, social and physical factors, some of which are acted upon and regulated by a range of other agencies. The importance of multisectoral collaboration between these agencies to maintain optimal physical and social environments that impact on health is acknowledged.
Cardiovascular disease, cancer, injury and mental health continue to form the major burden of disease in our community. Health behaviours such as smoking, inadequate physical activity and poor diet continue to be major contributors to this disease burden. Health inequalities arising from socio-economic disadvantage also impact negatively on health status. The range of strategies to reduce ill health is wide, from reducing smoking during pregnancy, through encouraging lifestyle choices such as healthy diet, regular exercise and safe sex, to preventing falls in our older residents. All sections of Hunter New England Health need to be involved in a range of primary, secondary and tertiary prevention activities. By targeting these and other priority health issues we aim to improve the health and well being of our population so that they may lead healthy and productive lives.
The report is an interactive Web version. Over time, new, more detailed or updated content will be added to the Web version to ensure that readers always have access to the most current information in the interval between hard copy editions.
The Health in Hunter New England is a product of Hunter New England Population Health. We would also like to thank the many Hunter New England Health staff who contributed to the report, and acknowledge the assistance of the Centre for Epidemiology and Research within NSW Health and many persons who contributed from within and outside NSW Health. Feedback from readers also greatly assists us in improving the report's content and presentation. Your comments are welcomed.
Terry Clout
Chief Executive Officer
Hunter New England Health
November 2005.
| Print version: | Although this page can be printed directly from your Web browser, a higher quality version of this entire page (graph, table and text) is available as an Acrobat PDF file which can be printed or viewed on screen using Adobe Acrobat Reader (free software). |
| Downloadable files: | The data contained in the table on this page are available for download as a CSV file which can be imported into many software packages. The graph is available for download as an EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) file and as an EMF (Enhanced Metafile Format) file. Files in these formats can be imported into most word processing, presentation and graphics software packages. |
| Rider: | The information presented in this report result from analyses of a variety of social and health focused datasets. These datasets originate from a variety of sources including Hunter New England Health, the NSW Department of Health, and the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The timing of the release of these data to third parties is controlled by the owner of these data. It is therefore possible for these organisations to publish data that they have not yet made available to Hunter New England Population Health for analysis and release. Users should therefore check the publications of these organisations as it is possible that they may have published even more up to date information on Hunter New England than those available in this report. As this report is an ongoing project, the indicators presented will be updated as soon as possible after the release of all datasets to Hunter New England Population Health. |
| Copyright notice: | This work is copyright Hunter New England Area Health Service, 2005. It may be reproduced in whole or in part, subject to the inclusion of an acknowledgement of the source. Commercial usage or sale is prohibited. |
| Suggested citation: | Hunter New England Population Health. Health in Hunter New England. Hunter New England Area Health Service, 2005. Available at: http://www.hnehealth.nsw.gov.au/HHNE/toc/pre_foreword.htm. Accessed (insert date of access). |
| Produced by: | Hunter New England Population Health, Hunter New England Health, with assistance from: Centre for Epidemiology and Research, NSW Health. |
| Last updated: | 5 December 2005 |
| See NSW Data: | To view state data, see NSW Chief Health Officer's Report: internet version, intranet version |
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