The Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association (AHHA) supports the vision in the National
Preventive Health Strategy (the Strategy) consultation paper for ‘improving the health of all Australians at all stages of life’. In this vision, health must be recognised as a multidimensional construct that incorporates physical, mental and social wellbeing, not just the absence of disease or infirmity (World Health Organisation [WHO], 1946). Variation across cultures must also be recognised in how health is defined. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, for example, take a broader perspective of health which includes the social, emotional and cultural wellbeing of the whole community (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare [AIHW], 2016).
The health of individuals and communities is influenced most significantly by the social determinants
of health – factors such as housing, income, education, conditions of employment, power distribution and social support – and these require greater emphasis throughout the Strategy. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, cultural determinants are important, with the need to strengthen languages, relationships, cultures, identity, place and networks for rebuilding resilience and cultural sustainability (Lowitja Institute, 2014). Mitigating and adapting to climate change (and its drivers) are also key to reducing the disease burden and avoidable deaths and illness.
