Landmark legislation passed: driving the preventive health agenda for good in South Australia
Landmark legislation has just been passed to drive the preventive health agenda for good in South Australia and ensure healthier South Australians across generations.
On 28 November, the Preventive Health SA Bill 2024 was passed by the South Australian Parliament. The Bill is the first of its kind in the state, recognising preventive health as a crucial area of health policy with a permanent place in the health system of South Australia.
In providing perpetuity to a dedicated prevention agency, this legislation has ensured the necessary structures are in place to address the increasing burden of preventable disease in South Australia, reduce health inequality and contribute to a more sustainable health system now and in the future.
Marina Bowshall, Chief Executive, Preventive Health SA said “This is a tremendous opportunity to build policy, systems and programs that will have a lasting positive impact on the state”.
Preventive Health SA was formed in February 2024, consolidating key prevention functions into a single government agency including obesity prevention, tobacco, vaping, mental health, suicide prevention, alcohol and other drugs, and the determinants of health.
These priorities have also been enshrined in the legislation, providing a clear preventive health agenda for both the agency and state.
The agenda is significant, with recent modelling showing obesity is now the leading risk factor in preventable health conditions for South Australians, overtaking smoking.
In addition, around 38 per cent of Australians are being impacted by health issues that could have been prevented if they reduced their exposure to risk factors including obesity, smoking, alcohol and drugs.
The Preventive Health SA Bill 2024 also establishes the Preventive Health SA Council to provide strategic advice with its members to be selected based on their diverse health knowledge, expertise and experience.
“One of the strengths of our agency is our collaborative approach across government, non-government and key sectors for policy and programs that benefit our community and population” said Marina Bowshall.
Since establishment, Preventive Health SA has been leading evidence informed, innovative and integrated action, with key achievements including:
- Strengthening tobacco and e-cigarette legislation including strengthening penalties, outlawing vaping stores, and strengthening smoke free areas.
- Delivering a range of evidence based campaigns including a state-wide smoking and vaping cessation campaign that has shown effectiveness in reducing prevalence, the Get2It bowel screening campaign with Cancer Council SA and The Every Moment Matters alcohol and pregnancy campaign with the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education.
- Providing more than $9 million in grant funding to community-based organisations to facilitate prevention and health promotion efforts.
- Establishing the South Australian Obesity Prevention Collaborative to inform and coordinate responses to reduce the prevalence of obesity through partnerships with the Cancer Council SA, the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute and the Heart Foundation.