Media Statement: ESSA supports increased health services for rural Australia

Exercise & Sports Science Australia (ESSA) today supports the four key areas outlined by the National Rural Health Alliance (NRHA) that any incoming Federal Government needs to address.

The four areas are: 
• Improving the health of Indigenous Australians  
• Boosting the supply and distribution of allied health care workers in rural, regional and remote areas  
• Creating a greater research focus on factors affecting rural health
• Developing a new National Rural Health Strategy

“We want to voice our support for the NRHA as each day we see the effects of poor health in our rural and remote communities. According to the statistics, those who live outside a major city carry 1.3 times the cost, mortality and disability associated with illness and disease, and to be frank, this is unacceptable,” says Anita Hobson-Powell, ESSA Chief Executive Officer.

The NRHA also explains that conditions such as coronary heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, lung cancer and suicide killed 11 more people a day compared with metropolitan areas.

“Many of the conditions that affect these communities are those that can be prevented or managed through an integrated approach to health. ESSA exercise and sports science professionals prescribe and administer exercise as medicine and that research is clear – if people move more, their health improves.”

“ESSA, along with all those represented by the NRHA, work tirelessly to effect change but we need more support from the top to stop the cycle and create a healthy, active future.”

Quick statistics:
• Being habitually active can reduce your risk of cancer-related death by 36%
• Regular exercise can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes by up to 40%
• 16 weeks of regular exercise is as effective as antidepressant medication in the treatment of mild/moderate depression
• Physical inactivity is the third leading risk factor in the Indigenous population, with its effect manifested through a range of diseases, most notably ischaemic heart disease (55% of the burden attributed to physical inactivity) and diabetes (33%)