National Chronic Disease Strategy

The National Chronic Disease Strategy is a national approach to chronic disease prevention and management.

In November 2005 the Australian Health Ministers’ Conference (AHMC) endorsed a national strategic policy approach to manage and improve chronic disease prevention and care in the Australian population.

The proposed national approach to chronic disease prevention and management comprises three complementary components:

1. National Chronic Disease Strategy

The National Chronic Disease Strategy provides an overarching framework of national direction for improving chronic disease prevention and care across Australia. It is a nationally agreed agenda to encourage coordinated action in response to the growing impact of chronic disease on the health of Australians and the health care system.

2. National Service Improvement Frameworks

Five supporting National Service Improvement Frameworks have been developed for:

The Frameworks identify a number of opportunities where Australia might most usefully invest to reduce the impact of these chronic diseases.

3. The Blueprint for nation-wide surveillance of chronic diseases and associated determinants

The Blueprint is a framework for local and national public health surveillance of preventable chronic disease and the determinants of chronic disease. The Blueprint sets out the essential elements of a national surveillance system, describes an Australian Priority Setting Tool for agreeing information priorities and methods, and proposes immediate actions to establish the system.

Implementation

The Strategy, Service Improvement Frameworks and Blueprint are focussed on system-level change from differing perspectives. Considerable activity is already occurring in relation to chronic disease prevention and care across jurisdictions. The Strategy and Frameworks are intended to guide policy development and service improvement and direct the development and implementation of action plans which are being tailored to meet local requirements within each jurisdiction.

The Strategy, Frameworks and Blueprint share a number of common themes. These include:

an emphasis on health promotion, prevention and monitoring population trends in the risk factors for chronic disease
supporting integrated service provision and multidisciplinary care
promoting and supporting self-management within the health system
progressing mechanisms to improve quality of care and
improving access to chronic disease prevention and care services by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other under-serviced population groups.