At last, a national health measurement survey program for Australia!

Hetzel, Diana M S; Glover, John D

doi:10.5694/j.1326-5377.2010.tb03938.x

Topics

Objective assessment of the health of the population is the key to policy and planning

Accurate, timely information about a population’s health, health risks and use of health services and medicines is essential for planning and evaluating health policies and care. Health surveys based on representative probability samples of the population are designed to provide this by collecting data on health behaviours, health determinants such as socioeconomic disadvantage and obesity, prevalence of diseases, need for health care and whether this has been provided, functional capacity, and nutritional status.1

Public Health Information Development Unit, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA.

Correspondence: di.hetzel@adelaide.edu.au

Competing interests:

Diana Hetzel has provided occasional advice to the Department of Health and Ageing and the ABS on issues relevant to the design of health measurement surveys. John Glover is a member of the ABS and Department of Health and Ageing Australian Health Survey Reference Group.

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