British study finds more than one third of cancers could be avoided with lifestyle changes

A landmark study by Cancer Research UK found that being overweight is a contributing factor to cancer – and it’s growing.

Excess weight now caused 6.3 per cent of all cancer cases, rising from 5.5 per cent in 2011.

The latest figures, calculated from 2015 cancer data, were analysised in the study to examine preventable cancers and to find ways individuals can help to minimise their risks to develop cancer.

Sir Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK’s chief executive said: “This research clearly demonstrates the impact of smoking and obesity on cancer risk. Prevention is the most cost-effective way of beating cancer and the UK Government could do much more to help people by making a healthy choice the easy choice.”

Cancer Research UK’s research found more than a third of all cases of cancer were avoidable – some 135,000.

Smoking in the United Kingdom still remains the biggest preventable cause of cancer despite the continued decline in smoking rates.

Tobacco smoke caused around 32,200 cases of cancer in men (17.7 per cent of all male cancer cases) and around 22,000 (12.4 per cent) in women in 2015, according to the research published in the British Journal of Cancer.

Cancer UK Research one of the biggest messages that they thought should be taken from the research was more action was needed to tackle the “health threat” of obesity.

Professor Linda Bauld, Cancer Research UK’s prevention expert, said: “Obesity is a huge health threat right now, and it will only get worse if nothing is done.

“The UK Government must build on the successes of smoking prevention to reduce the number of weight-related cancers. Banning junk food TV adverts before the 9pm watershed is an important part of the comprehensive approach needed.”

The research found that the third most preventable cancer in the UK was overexposure to UV radiation from sun or sunbeds. This directly caused about 13,600 cases of melanoma skin cancer a year, 3.8 per cent of all cancer cases.

Other preventable causes of cancer included drinking alcohol and eating too little fibre.

Cancer Research UK was keen to point out however, that is not a simple exercise to point to one thing alone to stop cancer. It was more an endorsement of the idea that many cancers were potentially preventable.

Professor Mel Greaves, from the Institute of Cancer Research, in London, said there was still many areas to be explored further in how to reduce cancers.

“If obesity could be avoided, the impact on cancer rates is uncertain – but they would almost certainly decline significantly,” Professor Greaves said.

“Given the currently high rates of obesity in young people, this represents (like cigarette smoking) a major societal challenge beyond the bounds of the medical arena.”

A copy of the study can be found at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41416-018-0029-6 .

MEREDITH HORNE

Unlocking the potential of girls

There are 600 million adolescent girls aged 10 to 19 living in the world today and 500 million of these are in developing countries.

In Plan International Australia’s new report, Half a Billion Reasons, CEO Susanne Legena says it is critical to invest in adolescent girls to create the necessary economic and social conditions to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

However, Plan believes this group is missing from Australia’s international development strategy despite being essential to a more prosperous future in developing countries.

“The world talks about focusing on ‘women and girls’ in aid and development, but in practice investments still target adult women or younger children, and adolescent girls aged 10 to 19 fall through the gap,” Ms Legena said.

Plan argues in the report, placing adolescent girls at the centre of aid and development enables benefits that can change the course of a girl’s life and a nation’s economy, reducing her risk of poverty and inequality and unlocking the demographic dividend that can accelerate a country’s economic growth.

Health issues are a central part of the report’s focus.

Pregnancy-related complications are the leading cause of death for adolescent girls aged 15 to 19.

Plan believes there is overwhelming evidence that when adolescent girls have access to sexual and reproductive health information and services it can be life-saving. However Australian Government funding for family planning has halved over three years, from $46 million in 2013/14 to $23 million in 2015/16.

Australia’s geographical significance to developing countries in Half a Billion Reasons cannot be overlooked.

PNG is described as one of the most dangerous places to be a woman or girl, with sexual and physical violence having reached epidemic levels. Programs are desperately needed to address this crisis, even though PNG is one of the primary recipients of Australia’s aid and development.

Childhood marriage threatens girls’ lives and health, and it limits their future prospects. Adolescent pregnancy increases the risk of complications in pregnancy or childbirth. In the Solomon Islands, 22 per cent of girls are married by the age of 18 and 3 per cent married by the age of 15.

Almost one quarter of all teenage girls in Timor-Leste will fall pregnant and have a baby by the time they are 20 years old. In addition, some 19 per cent are married by the time they are aged 19, indicating a deep stigma and shame around early pregnancy.

Education is also listed in the report as central to changing lives of adolescent girls in developing countries. The World Bank has shown that for every year an adolescent girl remains in school after age 11, her risk of unplanned pregnancy declines by 6 per cent throughout secondary school.

Adolescent girls and young women make up 76 per cent of young people around the world who are not in school, training or employment.

In PNG, Plan estimates only 18 per cent of adolescent girls attend upper secondary school. In the Solomon Islands only 22 per cent of girls attend upper secondary school despite there being 50 per cent of young women aged 15 to 24 who are unemployed.

Plan in the report has called on the Government to develop a stand-alone action plan to achieve gender equality for adolescent girls through Australia’s foreign policy, trade, aid and development.

The United States has a road map, Global Strategy to Empower Adolescent Girls, produced in 2016 to tackle the barriers that keep adolescent girls from reaching their full potential. Plan believes the Department of Foreign Affairs recently produced Foreign Policy White Paper was a missed opportunity to tackle issues faced by adolescent girls.

“Whether we are trying to empower girls to further their education, avoid child marriage, access family planning services or escape gender-based violence, we cannot improve girls’ realities without first acknowledging that their challenges and needs are unique,” Ms Legena said.

A copy of Plan’s report can be found at: https://www.plan.org.au/~/media/plan/documents/reports/girls-report-2018/full-reporthalf-a-billion-reasonsdigital.pdf?la=en

MEREDITH HORNE

Communiqué from March Federal Council meeting

DR BEVERLEY ROWBOTHAM, CHAIR, FEDERAL COUNCIL

Federal Council met in Canberra on March 16 and 17. Debate was robust as always and productive, with numerous Position Statements approved for adoption. These will be released to members and the public over coming weeks.

The President reported, as is our usual practice, in a town hall format, with questions of the President from Councillors and some debate. The President reported that the AMA had maintained a very high media profile over the summer period, with many press releases on summer lifestyle issues. These included avoiding heat stress, drinking in moderation, and driving safely. There were also significant Position Statements released, including the AMA Position Statement on Mental Health, which attracted a lot of positive interest from the mental health community.

In the week prior to the Federal Council meeting, the President had released the Public Hospital Report Card, highlighting the need for continued investment by Federal and State Governments in our public hospitals.

The major focus of discussion at this meeting was the recent actions of Bupa in announcing changes to its cover, which will impact doctors and patients alike. Federal Council urged the President to maintain his advocacy on the issue.

The Secretary General’s report again highlighted the scope of activity underway within the Federal AMA secretariat and the success of AMA advocacy on behalf of members; workforce initiatives; the granting by the ACCC of a further authorisation to permit certain billing arrangements to benefit general practices; discussions with the Department of Health on its review of medical indemnity insurance schemes; the raft of reviews relevant to reforms to private health insurance; the ongoing MBS reviews, and much more.

Federal Council considered a proposal for the introduction of post nominal letters to denote membership of the AMA, a move that has been long in the gestation. Further work is required before the Board considers amendments to the By Laws to make provision for the introduction.

Another key discussion was the change to the format of National Conference this year with the introduction of a day of policy debate. This change is being made in response to feedback from delegates that the opportunity for debate on issues by delegates needed to be enhanced. Federal Council considered a number of draft policy resolutions put forward by the membership, which will be further refined before distribution to delegates attending National Conference. Participation in the debate on the resolutions will be open to all AMA members attending the Conference, whether as an appointed delegate or fee-paying member.

Public health working groups brought forward a Position Statement on Men’s Health, and on Drugs in Sport. Council debated the issue of funding of access to bariatric surgery in the public health system. It also agreed to establish two new working groups to look at the issues of child abuse and neglect, and health literacy.

The Ethics and Medico Legal Committee tabled a revision to the Guidelines for Doctors on Managing Conflicts of Interest in Medicine, which was approved by Council. It is part of a wider piece of work before the Committee, looking at relationships between medical practitioners and industry.

Federal Council approved a new Position Statement on Diagnostic Imaging; and another on Resourcing Aged Care. The latter is one of the many advocacy documents in development or under review as part of the AMA’s expanded work on aged care issues. Council noted the report on the recent AMA survey of doctors’ views about providing care in aged care settings, noting the anticipated decline in the number of practitioners providing care.

A recent meeting of the Health Financing and Economics Committee had considered the issue of value based care as a model with the potential to concurrently increase hospital efficiency and improve patient outcomes. Quality data is needed to inform this work within public hospitals.

The Task Force on Indigenous Health, which advises the President on issues relevant to Indigenous health, continues its close involvement with Close the Gap initiatives. Its 2017 report card on ear health continues to be well received.

The various Councils of Federal Council provided their reports. The Council of Private Specialist Practice is monitoring the various reviews of private health insurance, including out of pocket costs and options to manage low value care in mental health and rehabilitation.

The Council of Doctors in Training (DiTs) discussed proposed reforms to bonded medical workforce schemes. The AMA has been active in influencing changes to the schemes which the Council of DiTs has strongly endorsed. The Chair of the Council of DiTs reported on the very successful AMA Medical Workforce and Training Summit held on 3 March 2018. The Summit brought together more than 70 important stakeholders in medical workforce and training to discuss the concerns of the AMA and many others in the profession with the distribution of the medical workforce, the long-standing imbalance between generalist training and sub- specialisation, the workforce position of different specialties and the growing evidence of a specialty ‘training bottleneck’ and lack of subsequent consultant positions.

The Council of General Practice tabled two Position Statements for approval. The first dealt with General Practice Accreditation and the second provides a Framework for Evaluating Appropriate Outcome Measures.

Federal Council supported a motion put forward by the Council of General Practice to endorse funding of universal catch-up vaccines through the National Immunisation Program for anyone living in Australia wishing to become up to date with clinically appropriate NIP vaccinations, irrespective of age, race, country of origin and State or Territory of residence.

The Council of Rural Doctors reported on its recent meeting with the new Rural Health Commissioner, Professor Paul Worley and discussions on the national rural generalist pathway.

The final item of business, but by no means the least important, was the adoption by Federal Council of a position statement on the National Disability Insurance Scheme, which followed a detailed discussion on the Scheme at the November meeting of Council.

Federal Council now prepares for the National Conference and its last meeting with its current membership in May. Elections are underway for several positions on the Council, evidence of increased member interest in its work.

Bringing pharmacists into the fold

BY DR RICHARD KIDD, CHAIR, AMA COUNCIL OF GENERAL PRACTICE

It has been almost three years since the AMA put forward its proposal to make non-dispensing pharmacists a key part of the future general practice healthcare team. Our advocacy on this issue has not wavered and since we launched our policy more evidence has accumulated to support the valuable role pharmacists can play when they are integrated into the general practice team.

General practice pharmacists would enhance medication management and reduce hospitalisations from adverse drug events (ADEs). An independent analysis from Deloitte Access Economics (DAE), which was released with the AMA’s proposal, showed that integrating pharmacists into general practice would deliver a benefit-cost ratio of 1.56. If general practices were supported to employ non-dispensing pharmacists as part of their healthcare team, they would be able deliver real cost savings to the health system, of $1.56 for every dollar invested.

An in-house pharmacist would be able to assist GPs address overprescribing and medication non-adherence by patients. We would see better coordination of patient care, improved prescribing, improved medication use, and fewer medication-related problems. Hospitalisation rates from ADEs would fall and our patients’ quality of life would be improved as would their health outcomes.

A recently released research article in the International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy, titled Pharmacists in general practice: a focus on drug-related problems, shows that where pharmacists are working within a general practice that their recommendations are more readily accepted by practice GPs.

This bears out research published in 2013 titled An evaluation of medication review reports across different settings, which had similar findings. Access to the patient’s medical file and the relevant clinical information within when conducting a medication review enabled recommendations that were more targeted and less conjectural. The recommendations from these better-informed reviews resulted in greater acceptance of the pharmacist’s recommendations by the GP.

With chronic disease on the rise, and an ageing population, it is estimated that there are more than 700,000 patients with co-morbidities who would benefit from a review of their medications. This figure represents just the top 10 per cent of patients who could benefit from having their medications reviewed. In-house pharmacists could be a valuable resource for patients in understanding their medications and how to use them.

With over 230,000 medication related admissions to hospitals every year at a cost of $1.2 billion per annum and patient medication non-compliances estimated at 33 per cent, the time has well and truly come for action on this front.

With another trial; utilising non-dispensing pharmacists in 14 medical centres across the greater Brisbane area; winding up, the AMA Council of General Practice is looking forward to hearing the interim results.

With increasing evidence that where pharmacists are integrated within general practice patient care is improved, the AMA continues to advocate for Government funding to make this an everyday reality for general practice and for patients.

AMA advocacy in diagnostic imaging funding and practice

BY DR ANDREW MULCAHY, CHAIR, AMA’S MEDICAL PRACTICE COMMITTEE

Diagnostic imaging may not always enjoy a high profile in the media but the AMA actively and continuously advocates on behalf of its members who provide diagnostic imaging services.

Some of the AMA’s activities are reported publicly, such as the AMA’s response to the Federal Parliament Senate inquiry into access to diagnostic imaging equipment. The AMA lodged a comprehensive submission covering the Government’s funding and regulation of diagnostic imaging equipment and the impact on equitable patient access. The submission was guided by the Medical Practice Committee with particular input from MPC member, Professor Makhan (Mark) Khangure, who is also the radiologist specialist representative on the AMA’s Federal Council.

The AMA was subsequently invited to provide evidence directly to the Senate Committee, which led to Professor Khangure speaking to Senators at a hearing held in Perth and sharing his knowledge and expertise from working in both the public and private sectors.

Diagnostic imaging also featured publicly and prominently in the AMA’s 2018-19 Budget Submission to the Federal Government. The AMA called for realistic funding and support for diagnostic imaging services under Medicare as one of its key priorities.

Other activities are more ‘behind the scenes’ but equally important in ensuring the AMA uses every opportunity to influence Government funding and regulatory decisions.

The AMA continues to monitor the Federal Department of Health’s implementation of the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) Review, a mammoth project begun in 2015 to assess more than 5,700 MBS items to ensure they are aligned with contemporary clinical evidence and practice. Work to assess diagnostic imaging related MBS items is a large component of this task. The AMA’s focus is to ensure the review is conducted transparently and appropriately.

The AMA is a member of the Diagnostic Imaging Advisory Committee, which provides advice to the Federal Department of Health on Medicare funding and regulatory policies relating to diagnostic imaging. This is a long-running standing committee, separate to the MBS Review, which meets twice a year, providing the AMA with the opportunity to advocate specifically on behalf of radiologist and other specialist members providing diagnostic imaging services funded under Medicare. MPC member, Dr Gino Pecoraro, is the AMA’s current representative.

The AMA is also a member of the Diagnostic Imaging Steering Committee, which provides advice to the Australian Digital Health Agency to ensure that the development and implementation of shared electronic records protocols related to diagnostic imaging services are appropriate and effective. Professor Khangure represents the AMA on this committee which meets four times a year.

Early this year, the AMA attended a stakeholder consultation meeting to discuss the Department of Health’s new ‘risk-based’ model of Medicare audit and compliance activities and its impact on medical practitioners providing diagnostic imaging services. The Department proposed a range of methods for identifying and remedying potentially non-compliant claiming of Medicare benefits. The AMA supports fair and transparent compliance processes and recommended educational approaches as a first step, with the goal of minimising unnecessary and invasive audits of individual practices or doctors.

Finally, as flagged in an article in this column last year, MPC has developed a new Position Statement on diagnostic imaging to formally bring together and promote the AMA’s full suite of diagnostic imaging policies. The Position Statement was endorsed by Federal Council last month and will be launched soon.

The AMA welcomes members’ views on advocacy priorities and strategies. If you have any comments or suggestions to make, please email them to president@ama.com.au

Graduate supply and public hospital funding – when will Government get this the right way around?

BY DR RODERICK McRAE, CHAIR, AMA COUNCIL OF PUBLIC HOSPITAL DOCTORS

As I write, Victorian salaried doctors are voting on its recommended Enterprise Bargaining Agreement, and other jurisdictions are in advanced negotiations in the new industrial relations frameworks. Relevant reports will follow.

My attendance at the sobering March 3 AMA Workforce and Training Summit convened in Melbourne, together with inspection of AMA’s 2018 Public Hospital Report Card, explains my continued exasperation at the consistent failure of Government to introduce realistic, necessary policy responses that deal with the now clearly apparent multiple medical training pipeline obstacles and poor public hospital access. Currently we have too much medical graduate supply and insufficient funding for appropriately training our junior colleagues in a manner that will meaningfully lead to reasonable public access to public hospital services.

The Summit attitude was constructive with about 80 national stakeholders combining to produce many broadly supported actions which AMA can prosecute. The Summit’s challenge was to consider what measures are needed further ‘downstream’ in training provision to ensure sufficient high quality training places in all medical specialties as they are needed for community benefit. While I fear the problems we now face are actually fast becoming too entrenched to solve, the Summit made it apparent that the medical profession is looking to the AMA, and within it your Council of Public Hospitals Doctors (CPHD), to lead the case for major reform. Accordingly, CPHD will be guided by the outcome strategies of the Summit, and will press to further inform and influence our health policy makers.

Two certain consensus points emerged from the Summit: stop opening new medical schools, and start rationalising resources towards regions and specialties where they are most needed. Government has regularly failed to fully listen to AMA’s advance warnings that there is real structural constraint to training capacity and that substantial ongoing investment is necessary to maintain training standards. Additionally, we need to urgently find sustainable, equitable paths to tackle the maldistribution of doctors (particularly across rural settings) and the shortages or bottlenecks arising in some craft areas.

I observe that it was AMA advocacy that achieved for most medical school graduates (and including many International Medical Graduates) guaranteed internship after graduation when, incredibly, Government had not actually originally factored this in to its expansion decision. Just another Federal/State divide. And, let’s not forget, the massive increase of new graduates doesn’t actually have true tsunami characteristics of quick destruction by ingress then receding as fast as it came, enabling an early, planned, rebuild. Instead, there is actually a permanent rising of the water table, overwhelming teaching infrastructure capacity, which means patients in public hospital beds.

The point is, we are graduating medical students in numbers far in excess of the OECD average without ensuring the adequate provision of the essential training places, both prevocational and specialist. This is at the same time that Commonwealth funding investment is not keeping pace with population growth. Any economist would reel.

In my December 2017 Australian Medicine piece, I discussed the ‘doing more with less’ implications of the Commonwealth financially penalising public hospitals who report acquired conditions, sentinel events and avoidable readmissions, otherwise known as possible healthcare outcomes (as if we are exercising choice to not provide optimum care now!). Added to that is the idea of penalising ‘low value care’ based on what are imposed and unsophisticated definitions, all with the aim of minimising financing, and a country mile from favourable health outcomes. This Commonwealth approach is in conjunction with them not offering any additional long term hospital funding via its 2020 State Agreement.

So, we have no additional funding despite AMA’s 2018 Public Hospital Report Card establishing there has been a 3.3 percent year-on-year average increase in separations (that’s called increased productivity), that one third of urgent emergency department patients are not seen within the recommended 30 minutes and that most States’ urgent elective surgery is not performed within the 90 day clinically indicated timeframe (that’s called increased demand). Don’t get me started on the sometimes years of a patient waiting to be seen in outpatients before actually being counted on an elective waiting list! And they want to claw back already insufficient funding when a complication happens. That economic management is called madness. If only health care really was like slapping a motor vehicle together on a production line; but it just is not.

The Summit’s Report will help us work together to develop initiatives to build a sustainable, well-trained, well-qualified and accessible medical workforce. The AMA’s Report Card is true evidence-based advocacy about hospital performance and the need for Government funding support to improve public access. Both suggest the public health climate is ominous with Government offering less funding but at the same time pressing for improved outcomes and offering more graduates but with no clear, coordinated, training pipeline management. Government must listen to us because of the implications for the community’s fair access to appropriate public hospital services, and for the career aspirations of our best and brightest.

[Comment] Offline: The Palestinian health predicament worsens

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which administers health services to 5·3 million Palestinian refugees through 143 primary health facilities, is in acute crisis. After President Trump cut almost US$300 million from UNRWA’s 2018 budget, services will run out of money by the end of May. Irrespective of one’s views about the complex politics of the Middle East, America’s decision to threaten the provision of basic health care to millions of dependent people seems utterly cruel. This emergency was a major theme of last week’s annual Lancet Palestinian Health Alliance (LPHA) scientific meeting, held in Beirut, Lebanon.

[Comment] The Lancet Commission on tuberculosis: building a tuberculosis-free world

The Sustainable Development Goals have prioritised ending the epidemic of tuberculosis by 2030. We are therefore at a critical juncture in implementing efforts to control and eliminate tuberculosis. Current efforts have averted 56 million deaths since 2000.1 We also have better diagnostic tools and the promise of a few new, potent agents in the pipeline.2 Yet tuberculosis remains the leading source of infectious disease deaths globally, responsible for 1·7 million deaths in 2016.1 The UN’s High-Level Meeting on Tuberculosis, due to take place in New York, USA, later in 2018, represents a unique opportunity to secure a commitment from heads of state and governments for a coordinated global response to end the epidemic.

Report Card shines a light on PHI

The AMA has revealed the best and worst of private health insurance coverage, with the release of its AMA Private Health Insurance Report Card 2018.

Following the recent decision by Bupa, which is one of Australia’s largest health insurers, to significantly reduce patient choice and coverage – while at the same receiving the go-ahead to increase its premiums – the Report Card is a timely reminder that private health insurance consumers should shop around.

In releasing the Report Card, AMA President Dr Michael Gannon warned that changes being implemented by Bupa and pursued by some other health insurers will reduce patient choice of doctor and hospital.

And they will leave policy holders questioning the value of their significant investment in private health insurance, he said.

“The big insurers are pursuing a US-style managed care agenda to save costs and further increase profits by making it harder for patients to receive care from the doctor they want in the most appropriate hospital for their condition,” Dr Gannon said.

“Bupa’s new arrangements, which only provide maximum benefits for patients in hospitals with Bupa contracts, undermine the role of the doctor in providing and advising the most appropriate care – and could ultimately drive up out of pocket costs for patients.

“Public confidence in private health insurance is already at an all-time low. These changes will further devalue policies, which are a major financial burden for Australian families, and will place dangerous pressure on the already stressed public hospital system.”

The Report Card provides an overview of how private health insurance should work to benefit patients, and explains how proposed new arrangements will result in less choice and value for policy holders.

It shows that there are a lot of policies on offer that provide significantly varying levels of benefits, cover, and gaps.

“There are also a lot of policies on the market that will not provide the cover that consumers expect when they need it,” Dr Gannon said.

“If people have one of these ‘junk policies’, they should consider carefully what cover they really need.

“The Government has undertaken some important reforms to private health insurance to help people understand the different conditions that each policy category – gold, silver, bronze, and basic – will cover.

“The funds must not be allowed to sabotage these reforms.”

The Report Card shows that some insurers perform well over all, and some only perform well for certain conditions.

It reveals that the same doctor performing the same procedure can be paid significantly different rates by each fund, which is often the untold story behind patient out of pocket costs, despite there being high levels of no gap and known gap billing statistics.

The latest APRA statistics show an overall no gap rate of 88.1 per cent and a known gap rate of 7.3 per cent.

Dr Gannon said the medical profession is working hard to ensure patients receive value for money.

“Our Report Card shows that the profits of the insurers continue to rise, the growth of policies with exclusions continues to grow, and policy holder complaints continue to rise,” he said.

“We explain what insurance may cover, what the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) covers, and what an out-of-pocket fee may be under different scenarios.

“We also highlight the frustrating fact that what an insurer pays can vary from State to State – even within the same fund.

“To help consumers better understand what they are buying, we set out the percentage of hospital charges covered by State and insurer, and the percentage of services with no gap, State by State.

“There is also a breakdown of the complaints received by provider and organisation, which shows that the number of private insurance complaints are significant, and on the rise.”

The data in the AMA Private Health Insurance Report Card 2018 is publicly available – drawn primarily from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), the Private Health Insurance Ombudsman, and the insurers’ own websites.

The AMA Private Health Insurance Report Card 2018 is at article/ama-private-health-insurance-report-card-2018

Further coverage of the AMA Private Health Insurance Report Card 2018 will be a feature of the next edition of Australian Medicine.

CHRIS JOHNSON

Poll finds understanding gap between alcohol and disease

Many Australians are unaware of the links between alcohol consumption and a range of cancers and other diseases, according to a recently released survey.

But a vast majority of them believe they have a right to such information and that Governments have a responsibility to educate them.

A new poll, released by the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE), reveals that Australians have a lack of understanding of the official drinking guidelines that could help keep them healthier.

The same poll also reveals that they want to know about the long-term harm associated with regular alcohol consumption, and they are increasingly of the opinion the alcohol industry is deliberately downplaying independent university research linking alcohol to a range of harm, including cancer and cardiovascular disease.

The Annual Alcohol Poll 2018: Attitudes and Behaviours, conducted by YouGov Galaxy, found that fewer than half of Australians are aware of the link between alcohol misuse and stroke (38 per cent), mouth and throat cancer (26 per cent) and breast cancer (16 per cent).

While 70 per cent of Australian adults are aware of the Australian Guidelines to Reduce Health Risks from Drinking Alcohol, only one in four of them (28 per cent) are aware of the content.

FARE’s Chief Executive Michael Thorn said the lack of knowledge of both the link between alcohol consumption and the risks of cancer and other chronic diseases, together with a clear understanding of how to avoid those risks, was extremely alarming.

“It really is a dangerous cocktail. Community awareness of alcohol’s link with a range of chronic health conditions remains low,” Mr Thorn said.

“In the case of alcohol’s link to breast cancer, the awareness is only 16 per cent. Nor are Australians armed with the knowledge that would reduce their risk of long-term harm. Only one in four Australians have some awareness of the actual content of the official drinking guidelines.”

Now in its ninth year, FARE’s national alcohol poll provides valuable trend data and insights into community perspectives on alcohol

This year, Australians were asked for the first time whether they thought they had a right to know about the long-term harm associated with regular alcohol use.

When advised that the World Health Organisation recognises that alcohol is linked to approximately 200 disease and injury conditions such as breast cancer, liver disease, mouth cancer and stroke, the vast majority of Australians (84 per cent) agreed that they had a right to that information, with 80 per cent of Australians reporting that Governments have a responsibility to educate Australians on this matter.

“If there is a silver lining here, it is that Australians clearly recognise their rights as consumers to be fully informed of the harm associated with the products they consume,” Mr Thorn said.

“The lesson here for Government is that it must do a better job of ensuring Australians fully understand the long-term harm from alcohol, and are given the information that would help them reduce that harm.”

The 2018 Poll findings make clear that the job cannot be left to the alcohol industry – 61 per cent of Australians believe that the alcohol industry would downplay independent university research findings linking alcohol consumption to a range of harm such as cancer and family violence.

Polling revealed that community perceptions of the alcohol industry have not improved since 2015, finding that the majority of Australians continue to believe that the alcohol industry targets people under the age of 18 years (55 per cent), and that it has too much influence with Governments (57 per cent).

The full is available at www.fare.org.au.

CHRIS JOHNSON