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National Health Priority Areas (NHPA)

9 Priority Areas

Improving the health of Australia’s population

The National Health Priority Areas (NHPA) initiative is a collaborative effort of Commonwealth and State and Territory governments, which draws upon relevant expertise in the non-government sector, to target diseases and conditions where significant gains could be achieved in terms of costs and in the health of Australia's population. The 9 NHPAs agreed by the Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council between 1996 and 2012 were:

  • Cancer control (first set of conditions, 1996)
  • Cardiovascular health (first set of conditions, 1996)
  • Injury prevention & control (first set of conditions, 1996)
  • Mental health (first set of conditions, 1996)
  • Diabetes mellitus (added 1997)
  • Asthma (added 1999)
  • Arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions (added 2002)
  • Obesity (added 2008)
  • Dementia (added 2012)