This bulletin summarises what is known about rheumatoid arthritis and presents available Australian national statistics on the subject. Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease – one where the body’s immune system attacks its own tissues – and thus differs from osteoarthritis which is characterised by wear-and-tear of joints. Joints bear the brunt of autoimmunity in...

This paper presents the author’s analysis of the Indigenous provisions in the Australian Government’s 2013-14 Budget in the context of current and past strategies, policies, programs and funding support. It also looks at the implementation and impact of the Commonwealth’s Indigenous Chronic Disease Package. This work has been done using only materials and data that...

During the 2010 election the Gillard Government committed to developing Australia’s first National Food Plan to provide a vision for our food future. The National Food Plan is a roadmap for the future of Australia’s food industry. Australia’s food industry stands at a gateway to new opportunities. To take advantage of these, the National Food...

Immunisation helps protect individuals and the community generally against potentially serious diseases such as measles, polio, tetanus and whooping cough (pertussis). Although the great majority of children in Australia are immunised, it is important to maintain high immunisation rates to reduce the risk of outbreaks of these and other diseases recurring. Australian governments and experts...

This report shows how asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) hospitalisations vary across Australia. It also examines the association between these hospitalisation rates and socioeconomic status (SES), remoteness and the proportion of Indigenous Australians in different locations across Australia. Maps presented in this report show higher hospitalisation rates for both asthma and COPD in...