The
current
healthcare system is really only concerned with fixing people when they
get
sick. Apart from immunisation and the QUIT smoking campaign, there are
no
preventative measures.
Important
and simple preventative methods are available to the government, which
would
cost next to nothing to implement, but would mean huge savings in the
future
for Health Departments through better general health of the population.
There
are
many food additives which have not been put through satisfactory safety
testing
and are in fact contributing to poor health.
In many cases, the only testing that has been done is by the
company
pushing for its approval – who will profit from it.
An example of this would be NutraSweet, the substitute for sugar
that has been linked by the American Food and Drug Administration to up
to 92
illnesses, including cancer, alzheimers, blindness, diabetes and memory
loss. A healthy and natural alternative
would be Stevia.
ALDI Supermarkets have taken an
important step and removed fourteen artificial colourings, leading the
way for
the Australian food industry and the Australian government. The
artificial food
colours were either replaced with natural substitutes, or nothing at
all. The move was initiated following a
study by
researchers at the University of Southampton which demonstrated
increased
levels of hyperactivity in young children.
Yes we
need
modern and up-to-date hospitals and treatment facilities, in reach of
those
people who need it. It is important
that more stress is not placed on sick people by forcing them to be
alone or
too far from loved ones. Peter’s
Project’s goal of radiotherapy and MRI services for the South-West can
easily
be funded by diverting funds from less important projects, such as the
$53
million allocated to the Centre for Understanding China based at
Australian
National University.
But
there
are also other treatments that can bring the body back into balance,
reducing
the possibility of disease raising its head or becoming too serious.
Naturopathy,
Acupuncture and Homeopathy can all play an important role in creating a
healthy
body and perform complimentary and/or alternative roles to current
traditional
medicine.
It is
important to look at the body in a holistic way to find out what is
causing a
health problem, not just diagnose the problem and prescribe a drug to
address
the symptoms which will likely lead to repeat occurrences of the
problem.
I
believe
that such alternative treatments should be brought into the mainstream
and
included under Medicare. Their extra initial cost will be far
outweighed by a
reduction in minor health problems, time off work, hospital stays and
even
surgery. Importantly they will also result in a happier and healthier
population.
Access
to
health care in rural areas can be a problem with a lack of doctors and
dentists
willing to live in remote areas. I believe a Government Scholarship
scheme
should be introduced to combat this along with incentives such as tax
breaks.
Many
doctors
and researchers have shown that poor nutrition, or a lack of certain
food
types, vitamins and minerals are the cause of illness. Some claim that
disease
can be cured by redressing this. In America, school lunches are served
in many
schools. Maybe providing healthy lunches to primary school children
will help
to prevent health problems by ensuring they are getting the nutrients
they need
at the stage their bodies need them to grow. Again, the benefits
greatly
outweigh the costs through savings in hospital treatments.
Poor
nutrient levels can also be addressed by consuming fresh organic fruit
and vegetables.
While some studies show there is no difference in nutrient levels
between
organic and non-organic crops, there are other studies that do show a
difference.
Official food composition
tables reveal that since the 1940s the mineral levels in fruits,
vegetables,
meat and dairy have declined substantially in conventional foods.
Combine this
with earlier (pre-ripened) picking, longer storage, and more processing
of
crops, and it's not surprising that we may be getting fewer nutrients
in our
food than we were 60 years ago.
There are also the health
problems caused by the residue of pesticides used on non-organic crops.
It is
my personal belief, and many researchers support this, that these are
the cause
of many health problems, including cancer.
I have spoken to many
people who believe that the increase in cancer rates can be reversed by
“going
back” to growing our own organic fruit and vegetables.
I believe that the
government should be encouraging farmers to go organic, through
whatever means
are available (tax breaks, loans), and give them the assistance to do
so.
Obviously this will take several years to achieve, and costs would be
spread
out over at least ten years, with benefits beginning to be seen before
that
time.