The National Preventative Health Agency (NPHA) is designed to spearhead public health campaigns against obesity, alcohol abuse and smoking. The agency was a key recommendation of the Government’s National Preventive Health Taskforce strategy released in September.
“Providing real value to all Australians on this critical public health issue is essential,” Mr Palmer told Growfish.com. “The new National Preventative Health Agency must make a difference. Preventative health is essentially about communication and education. We have fallen into a ‘cure’ situation allowing the drug industry to rule the roost when good nutritional practices would prevent so many chronic diseases. We hope that this new agency will do more than the National Health and Medical Research Council and Australian Institute of Health and Welfare who have not achieved as much in preventative education as they possibly should have done.”
The proposed independent, government-funded agency will commence on 1 January 2010 and be responsible for preventative health advertising, policy advice, health surveillance, consultation and research. It will be staffed by government-appointed health experts.
“SEA expects to working collaboratively with NPHA as seafood has an extraordinarily strong role in preventative health, and we expect that to be recognised and promoted in some way,” Mr Palmer said. “We are very keen to see issues such as front-of-pack food labelling, advertising to children initiatives, and positive communications regarding seafood consumption, actively progressed. Whilst there are concerns regarding obesity, SEA is very much in the camp of Professor Michael Crawford who believes the biggest issue for human health in the future is the increase in mental disorders. Seafood has a unique role to play in mitigating a growing epidemic of mental health problems related to diet.”
Mr Palmer said SEA is committed to making Australia healthier - whether in the workplace, at school or at home - and has obtained the rights to hold The International Seafood & Health Conference and Exhibition at the Melbourne Conference and Exhibition Centre from 6 to 10 November 2010.
Seafood Has A Healthy Role To Play
AUSTRALIA - Seafood Experience Australia (SEA), Chief Executive Officer, Roy Palmer, has urged the Senate to pass a Bill, introduced last week, to establish a new National Preventative Health Agency.
