Education campaigns
8.1
As part of a comprehensive approach to reduce obesity, public health
campaigns are essential to raise awareness, improve nutrition literacy,
attitudes and behaviours around diet and physical activity.[1]
8.2
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has identified public education
campaigns as an effective means of disseminating messages about obesity
prevention at a population level, and can be a useful tool for population
behaviour change and shifting social norms to preference healthy behaviours.[2]
Lack of leadership and investment
8.3
According to Mr Terry Slevin, Chief Executive Officer of the Public
Health Association of Australia, the lack of high-profile education and prevention
programs at a national level raises the question of government's commitment and
investment in public health:
There seems to be...little appetite to boost investment in
public health or prevention, even though we've got an enormous body of evidence
that suggests this is one of the best buys we can make in health.[3]
8.4
Other submitters also noted the current lack of government leadership
and investment in prevention programs and sustained initiatives.[4]
8.5
Many inquiry participants called for additional funding for public
health campaigns to improve attitudes and behaviours around diet, physical
activity and sedentary behaviour.[5]
8.6
For example, the Australian Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance
recommended sustained, funded and well-researched mass-media campaigns to
increase activity and improve nutrition.[6]
Healthy Food Partnership
8.7
In November 2015, the Australian Government initiated the Healthy Food
Partnership (HFP), a non-regulatory, collaboration between public health
groups, food industry bodies and government.
8.8
The HFP is aimed at tackling obesity, encouraging healthy eating and the
reformulation of products by food manufacturers.[7]
8.9
The HFP work to date has focused on the development and design process
of key activities, including improving consumers' knowledge and awareness of
healthier food choices, and educating consumers on appropriate portion and
serve sizes, as well as supporting consumers to eat appropriate levels of core
foods such as fruit and vegetables.[8] Another focus of the HFP is to support the industry to reformulate their foods
(see Chapter 5).
8.10
The Australian Government Department of Health informed the committee
that some of these activities are expected to start from late 2018 / early
2019.[9]
8.11
Inquiry participants commented that they support the HFP but noted its
lack of progress to date.[10] For example, Ms Alexandra Jones, Research Fellow at The George Institute, told
the committee:
The Healthy Food Partnership is a good start and it could be
effective, but right now it's totally under resourced and it's moving slowly.[11]
8.12
Other submitters were concerned about the capacity for the HFP to
operate and deliver tangible outcomes because of the undue influence of food
companies within HFP governance, and the apparent lack of monitoring and
accountability mechanisms.[12]
8.13
For example, the Tasmanian Government noted in its submission that the
food industry should be a key stakeholder in the development of initiatives
such as the HFP, but 'there is a risk of undue commercial influence on the
development of policy and guidelines, and this requires careful consideration'.[13]
8.14
The School of Social Sciences at the University of Adelaide is of the
view that there has been a substantial disinvestment in obesity prevention by
the Australian Government, and it made the following assessment of the HFP:
We are sceptical about the capacity for the Partnership to
deliver meaningful outputs due to failure to manage conflicts of interest, lack
of accountability mechanisms, and commitment to describing obesity as a matter
of individual responsibility and choices.[14]
LiveLighter
8.15
The Western Australian Government has funded the LiveLighter campaign
since 2012.[15] The campaign was extended to Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory in
2014 and to the Northern Territory in 2015.[16]
8.16 LiveLighter is a public education program, which aims to
encourage people to eat well, be physically active and maintain a healthy
weight via a variety of initiatives including mass-media and social media
campaigns, community engagement activities and the production of tools and
resources.[17]
8.17 For example, in 2015, LiveLighter ran a mass-media campaign
in Victoria around the contribution of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) to the
development of visceral toxic fat around vital organs. An evaluation of the
campaign showed that it resulted in a significant reduction in consumption of
SSBs and an increased knowledge of the health effects of SSB consumption.[18]
8.18
Submitters noted the effectiveness of the LiveLighter campaigns
and are of the view that more funding should be directed towards mass-media
education campaigns.[19]
8.19
However, Swinburne University of Technology was critical of these types
of campaigns, arguing they can further contribute to the stigma associated with
weight and body shapes:
Media campaigns, especially those directed at adults (i.e.
LiveLighter) disempowers people by focusing too heavily on the weight and shape
of the body at the expense of health behaviours that are within their control,
and upstream action on social, cultural, environmental, and commercial
determinants of health. Furthermore focusing efforts on obesity prevention
pathologises larger bodies, creating an environment that entrenches weight
stigma.[20]
Committee view
National Education Campaign
8.20
The committee is of the view that public education campaigns are
effective and play an important role in improving attitudes and behaviours
around diet and physical activity. The committee agrees with submitters that
there is a critical need for developing a suite of publicly funded education
campaigns.
8.21
Overall, the committee heard that there is a clear need for government
leadership to establish and resource comprehensive education campaigns. At
present, the Australian Government is doing too little in this area. The HFP
has made no tangible progress since its establishment. There is no overall
strategy around the development and implementation of education campaigns and programs
that take a holistic approach to improve behaviours around diet and physical
activity. This reflects a lack of government leadership and absence of a
national obesity strategy.
Recommendation 14
8.22
The committee recommends the proposed National Obesity Taskforce
is funded to develop and oversee the implementation of a range of National
Education Campaigns with different sectors of the Australian community.
Educational campaigns will be context dependent and aimed at supporting
individuals, families and communities to build on cultural practices and
improve nutrition literacy and behaviours around diet, physical activity and
well-being.
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