Link between socio-economic status and health in Northern Tasmania

A collaboration of about 40 organisations, with 70 experts, looked at the correlation between socio-economic status and health.

Researchers found Northern Tasmania had some of the worst health indicators in Australia.

“The socio-economic disadvantage and poor health links are very, very close,” the Australian Health Policy Collaboration’s Ben Harris said.

“Tasmanians living in the lower 40 per cent of socio-economic status, which is a lot of Northern Tasmania, are much more likely to be obese, less likely to exercise, and much more likely to smoke.

“In fact, in every single local government area in Northern Tasmania, rates of obesity are higher than the national average. Smoking rates are higher than the national average. There are higher rates of physical inactivity, worse cholesterol measurements, higher blood pressure than the rest of the country.”

Mr Harris said the collaboration looked at a range of indicators and set targets for improving Australia’s health. He said the group saw a trend during their research.

“The bottom line is that being socially and economically disadvantaged is bad for your health, but it’s also much more likely to kill you prematurely.

“If your health is struggling, it’s hard to build your wealth. If you aren’t able to work as much as you want, you can’t build your wealth, and then it’s much tougher to build your health.”

Mr Harris said the issue largely came down to people’s environment.

“It’s not necessarily about health services. There are some excellent health services in Northern Tasmania, excellent practitioners. So the best thing we could do for the health and wealth of Tasmanians is improve the economy of Northern Tasmania - more jobs, more investment.”

Health Minister Michael Ferguson said no more money or resources would be put into preventative health initiatives.

“Healthy Tasmania is the government’s five-year preventative health plan aimed at helping Tasmanians enjoy better health and stay out of hospital,” he said.

“It is in addition to the $70 million we already invested each year into preventative health programs.”