Sydney, December 12 (IANS). Obesity has become a big challenge for Australia. This has become the biggest cause of diseases. Government figures have confirmed this.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) on Thursday released its annual “Australian Burden of Disease” report for 2024.
Xinhua report quoted the report as saying that Australians are losing their lives prematurely due to the disease.
It added that “the causes of the risk factors could have been avoided or reduced.”
The AIHW considered obesity and overweight to be a major cause of disease.
According to this report, tobacco use was previously a major risk factor, but AIHW reported that the burden of disease caused by it has reduced by 41 percent since 2003.
“This decline may be due to a decline in the number of smokers,” AIHW spokesperson Michelle Greeley said in a statement.
The study said that 8.3 percent of total diseases in Australia in 2024 are due to overweight. 7.6 percent is due to tobacco use and 4.8 percent is due to diet-related problems.
A separate report published by AIHW in June found that 66 per cent of Australian adults and 26 per cent of children and teens were overweight or obese in 2022.
The report released on Thursday found that cancer will remain the leading cause of diseases in 2024.
The report cited the deteriorating mental condition of the youth, suicide and self-harm tendencies as reasons for the increasing burden of diseases in the country.
–IANS
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