Australia’s Health 2012 in brief

'Australia's health 2012: in brief' presents highlights from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare's thirteenth biennial report on the nation's health, which has just been released.

There are many positive things to say about the health of Australians. We generally have good health, our health is improving on many fronts, and we compare well with other countries. There has been a great deal of progress over the past century.  But there are negatives, which include growing obesity, the doubling of Diabetes since 1989, and rises in the incidence of mental illness, Chlamydia and kidney disease.  This short but informative report provides an overall picture of national birth, death and disease rates and provides suggestions for improving the health of the nation.  Overseas comparisons are drawn.