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Core 1: Health Priorities in Australia
What are the priority areas for improving Australia's health?
Injury
An injury can be described as any harm (whether intentional or not) resulting from an external cause, for example a road and traffic related accident, suicide, falls, drowning, and poisons.
Injury is a significant source of preventable morbidity (illness) and mortality (death) in Australia. It is because of this that injury prevention and control is identified as one of Australia’s health priorities.
Major causes of death in Australia, 1996
About injury
- Injuries are the leading cause of death for persons
aged under 45 years.
- 43% of all deaths for people aged 45 years or younger
are attributed to injuries.
- For almost all the categories of injuries, males
account for more deaths than females.
- The death rate from injury has declined from the
1950’s to present. This trend is in step with death
rates generally. However, over the past decade the deaths
due to injury remained static whereas all-causes death
rates continued to decline 1-2% annually.
- Deaths due to injuries for indigenous Australians and
for those who live in rural and remote areas are higher
than those for the general population.
- For males, injury death rates in large rural centres are 22% higher than in capital cities and injury death rates in remote centres are 69% higher than in capital cities.
Road and traffic related
injuries
is the largest contributing factor to the death of children
0-14 years and young adults 15-24 years.
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