Australians 'fatter, drinking more'

Australians are fatter, drunker and have more sexually transmitted diseases than ever before, but access to doctors is falling.

The appalling state of Aboriginal and rural health continues to stain the nation's bill of health, as these groups lag behind their non-indigenous and city counterparts in life expectancy and quality.

The good news from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) biennial national snapshot is we live longer than any other nation except for Japan.

Men who reach 65 can now expect to live to the age of 83 and women to 86 - about six years more than a century ago, according to Australia's Health 2008.

Death rates for cancer, heart disease, stroke and injury are declining.

Australia also leads the world in vaccination, with 90 per cent of children fully immunised against preventable childhood diseases at age two.

But the bad news is lifestyle factors, such as obesity and binge drinking, are on the rise, with excessive alcohol consumption costing taxpayers an estimated $10.8 billion in 2004-05.

Asthma has become less common among children and adults but the rate of diabetes has doubled in the past two decades.

AIHW director Penny Allbon said about 7.4 million Australians were overweight and almost one-third of those were obese.

"Close to three in 10 children and young people are overweight or obese," she said.

Dr Allbon said there was great scope for tackling lifestyle risk factors, with nine per cent of hospital procedures in 2005-06 potentially preventable.

In 2005-06, less than two per cent of health expenditure was for preventative health.

"In rank order, the greatest improvements can be achieved through reductions in tobacco smoking, high blood pressure, overweight/obesity, physical inactivity, high blood cholesterol and excessive alcohol consumption," Dr Allbon said.

Despite safe-sex campaigns, more people are contracting sexually-transmitted infections (STIs).

Chlamydia was the most frequently reported STI last year, at a rate of 238 people per 100,000, up from 57 in 1998.

Seeing a GP is increasingly difficult, with the supply of doctors nine per cent lower in 2005 than in 1997.

However, access to GPs in remote areas has improved by 15 per cent.

The health of indigenous and rural Australians languishes at levels well below that of their non-indigenous city counterparts.

Some remote Aboriginal communities have no organised water supply and the life expectancy gap between indigenous and non-indigenous people is widening.

Between 1996 and 2001, the life expectancy for indigenous males was 59 and 65 for females, which is similar to the respective life expectancy for non-indigenous males in 1901-1910, and females in 1920-1922.

One encouraging sign, however, is that although indigenous newborns are twice as likely than other babies to be of low birth weight or pre-term, the death rate gap between indigenous babies and non-indigenous babies is shrinking.

Almost one-third of mothers have their children via caesarean section, with caesarean rates rising from 18 per cent in 1991, to 30 per cent in 2005.