About Live Longer!
The Live Longer! website is home to Local Community Campaigns to Promote Better Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health (Local Community Campaigns).
Local Community Campaigns is one of 14 measures under the Indigenous Chronic Disease Package (ICDP); part of the Australian Government’s contribution to the COAG National Partnership Agreement on Closing the Gap in Indigenous Health Outcomes. Closing the Gap aims to close the life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians within a generation.
Our aims
The Local Community Campaigns Program aims to:
- raise awareness that conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease and stroke are not inevitable and may be prevented;
- promote a change to a healthier lifestyle to help prevent these conditions and improve the health of those who already have one; and
- raise awareness of how regular check ups from a doctor, nurse and/or health worker can help prevent and manage illness.
Local Community Campaigns enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to run locally-driven health promotion projects to help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people make healthy lifestyle choices, to reduce the risk of chronic disease.
Chronic Disease and Healthy Lifestyle Choices
Chronic diseases are conditions that generally last for a long time and slowly get worse. They include heart disease, diabetes, stroke, renal (kidney disease), cancer and chronic respiratory diseases.
Healthy lifestyle choices to prevent chronic disease can include:
- Giving up smoking – or encouraging your family not to start smoking.
- Healthy eating – eating more fruit, vegetables and bush tucker, and cutting down on foods that are bad for you like fizzy drink and fast food.
- Doing physical exercise – walking, gardening and dancing are all great ways to increase your level of exercise.
- Having regular health checks – most people go to the doctor or nurse when they feel sick. If you go on a regular basis, you can find out ways to improve your health and prevent getting sick.
More information on each of the measures under the Indigenous Chronic Disease Package can be found on the Tackling Indigenous Chronic Disease Site.
Want to know more?
Developmental Research
Extensive research guided the development of Local Community Campaigns, providing a detailed understanding of people’s current awareness, knowledge and attitudes in relation to healthy lifestyle behaviours, including the use of health services for preventing and treating chronic disease.
Keen to find out more? Read the Executive Summary and Final Report. You can discover more about developmental research to support other elements of the Indigenous Chronic Disease Package here.
Get in touch!
If you have any questions about the Live Longer! Campaign or the Local Community Campaigns program, please contact the Department of Health and Ageing on the details below.
Call us on 02 6289 7500 or email localcommunitycampaigns@health.gov.au.
