Working with decision-makers to develop the evidence needed to make informed and consistent preventive health resource allocation decisions to improve health and wellbeing of all Australians.
The need
Excess body weight is causally linked to 30 diseases and is a leading risk factor for disease burden in Australia and globally. The economic burden is also substantial, with annual healthcare and productivity costs of almost $12 billion borne by Australian society.
The Australian National Obesity Strategy 2022-2032, National Preventive Health Strategy 2021-2030 and the Productivity Commission recommendations support the development of a National framework to assist governments investment in prevention and early intervention. They provide a powerful opportunity for Australia to address the health and economic burden of obesity. Scarce societal resources mean that decision-making to address the obesity epidemic requires the consideration of the value-for-money of policies from a societal perspective. However, my previous research has shown that the lack of methods to incorporate the complex inter-sectoral impacts of obesity prevention strategies into economic analyses contributes to government inaction. Furthermore, current decision-making frameworks are not fit-for-purpose to help decision makers balance the various considerations when implementing broad prevention strategies. My vision for the next 5 years is to establish a world-leading research program to support decision-makers to efficiently and equitably allocate resources for preventive health.
About
The project aims to transform obesity prevention resource allocation decision-making by Australian governments by undertaking three inter-related streams of work that will: i) co-design with policymakers a preventive health priority-setting framework which addresses how equity and efficiency can be considered and balanced with other factors that influence decision-making; ii) advance the economic evaluation of obesity prevention interventions by developing methods of incorporating environmental impacts, productivity and industry costs into analyses; and iii) generate the economic evidence and frameworks that can be directly used to inform the delivery of the national strategies.
Impact
- Capitalising on stated national priorities, this project will deliver the critical research required to support evidence-based decision-making for the efficient allocation of scarce resources to improve health and wellbeing for all Australians and reduce health inequities.
- The outputs will also be internationally significant and can be adapted to other contexts.
Funding
Our funding is from a NHMRC Investigator Grant.