Dietitians Warn: New Budget May Set Working Families Up To Fail, Australia

Main Category: Nutrition / Diet
Article Date: 16 May 2008 - 3:00 PDT

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The proposed health check for four year old children is a very limited response to a complex issue without follow-up treatment, according to the Dietitians Association of Australia (DAA).

The leading nutrition organisation said this initiative, announced in yesterday's budget, was a step in the right direction, but risked leaving families in the dark, with a problem but no help to solve it. The families most at risk are often the ones least able to pay for health services and currently obesity is not considered a chronic disease under Medicare meaning there is no rebate for families needing to see a dietitian.

DAA Executive Director, Claire Hewat, said, 'Families identified through these health checks as at risk of chronic disease need access to a range of comprehensive services to address these. Providing families with a brochure, no matter how informative, is simply not enough without affordable support from appropriately skilled health professionals.'

DAA welcomed some important initiatives announced by the Government including:

- Supporting Indigenous health through the National Indigenous Health Workforce Training Plan which the DAA hopes will support stronger career pathways to increase the number of Indigenous allied health professionals.

- Support for breastfeeding which has many protective health benefits, and is a key health priority.

- Rural clinical placement scholarships to boost the number of allied health care workers in rural areas.

- Funding to establish a national kitchen gardens program to educate children about healthy food.

- Oral health initiatives which demonstrate the Commonwealth taking more responsibility in this important area.

DAA also supports the Healthy Guidelines for Early Childhood Obesity Reduction, but said the guidelines must cover nutrition in a broader context, including general good nutrition for healthy growth and development. And such guidelines would also address the needs of those children who are underweight or have other nutritional needs. As the experts in preventing and managing childhood obesity, DAA and its Accredited Practising Dietitian members said they look forward to being involved in the development of these guidelines.

DAA was disappointed that only 1.7 million was allocated to encourage community initiatives to address obesity.

'Given the huge burden of the obesity epidemic, 1.7 million compared to funding allocated to other prevention initiatives is completely inadequate,' Ms Hewat said.

The Dietitians Association of Australia (DAA) is the professional body representing dietitians nationally. Accredited Practising Dietitian (APD) is the only national credential recognised by the Australian Government, Medicare, the Department of Veterans Affairs and most private health funds as the quality standard for nutrition and dietetics services in Australia.

Dietitians Association of Australia