Introduced on 12 December, the interactive dashboard tracks progress against the targets set in the National Preventive Health Strategy 2021-2030. 

Lung Foundation Australia is pleased to see improvements against targets to reduce tobacco use. According to the dashboard, the prevalence of daily smoking in adults decreased from 13.8% in 2017-18 to 10.6% in 2022, indicating that Australians are close to hitting the strategy’s mid-point target. Daily smoking rates among First Nations people (aged 15 years and over) have also substantially reduced, from 37.4% in 2018-19 to 28.8% in 2022-23, and are on track to achieve the targets set in the Strategy.  

Successes in tobacco reduction can be attributed to the additional investment in information and awareness campaigns, community programs, and stronger and more visionary policy at federal and state levels, just to name a few.  

However, investment in preventive health, which was targeted to be 5% of total health expenditure across Commonwealth, state and territory governments by 2030, has seen no change since the introduction of the National Preventive Health Strategy. Public health spending as a proportion of total health expenditure remains similar in 2022-23 as it was in 2018-19, excluding spending on COVID-19. The pandemic emphasised the importance of prevention; now more than ever, it’s crucial we increase investment in prevention.  

Meaningful investment and action towards prevention is crucial for reducing the burden of lung disease in Australia. The preventive health monitoring dashboard highlights the important progress made since the launch of the National Preventive Health Strategy, but also the work to be done before 2030.