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Chronic disease and injury prevention

Chronic diseases – such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, some cancers and respiratory diseases – are the leading cause of death in Australia. Injuries are also common and have a profound impact on the Western Australian community.

Death and disability caused by chronic disease and injury can be reduced. The Population and Preventive Health Directorate (PPHD) develops and promotes state and national strategies to prevent chronic disease and injury.

Taking a population-wide perspective, PPHD aims to empower and enable Western Australians to lead healthier lives by supporting equitable and sustainable improvements in health behaviours and environments.

Health promotion initiatives specifically focus on creating a population-level impact to address the leading modifiable risk factors associated with the development of chronic diseases:

  • reducing tobacco and e-cigarette use
  • healthy eating and active living to halt the rise in obesity
  • preventing injury and promoting safer communities.

PPHD participate in collaborations and partnerships in WA Health, across government and in the not-for-profit sector, to encourage healthy behaviours in our communities in the areas of:

  • community development 
  • creating environments for living, working and relaxing which support healthy behaviours
  • economic interventions 
  • legislation and regulation 
  • raising public awareness and engagement 
  • strategic coordination, building partnerships and capacity building
  • targeted interventions 
  • policy development at government and organisation level.

PPHD has produced the Mapping preventive health policies, strategies and initiatives across the WA Public Sector report (PDF 2MB) that maps policies, plans and projects being implemented by other WA government departments and agencies that will help to reduce preventable chronic disease and injury and promote health and wellbeing.

Resources to help local governments in supporting the health and well-being in their area are available on Public health planning resources.

For support and information about healthy lifestyles for you and your family, visit HealthyWA (external site).

Our strategy

The WA Health Promotion Strategic Framework 2022-2026 sets out a strategic plan for the WA health system and its partners for preventing chronic disease and injury.   

Research and evaluation

Health promotion initiatives need to be robust, measurable and accountable. The Evaluation Framework and Implementation Guide is a practical guide to help plan and undertake program evaluation.

  • The Nutrition Monitoring Survey Series (NMSS) has been conducted by the WA Department of Health since 1995 and aims to investigate the nutrition knowledge, attitudes and beliefs of WA adults relating to the Dietary Guidelines for Australians 
  • Evidence brief: food, built environments and obesity (PDF 2MB) summarises local data collected in WA regarding the location, proximity and density of healthy and unhealthy food retail outlets, the impact this has on dietary intake, overweight and obesity, and policy options to address these issues.
  • Tobacco and e-cigarette use in WA. The Department of Health undertakes population monitoring and surveillance of tobacco and e-cigarette prevalence and harms, as well as key factors that impact smoking behaviour. 
Our policies

PPHD also provides stewardship of the below WA Health policies:

Health Promotion Directory

The WA Health Promotion Directory (HPD) is a companion resource to the Western Australian Health Promotion Strategic Framework 2022-2026.

The HPD provides information on health promotion programs  and services across WA that prevent chronic disease and injury in WA by:

  • reducing smoking and vaping
  • promoting healthy eating and active living to halt the rise in obesity
  • reducing harmful alcohol use
  • preventing injuries and promoting safer communities.

You can search for a program by risk factor, the area you live in, the setting for the program, and the agency that provides the program.

The HPD only includes health promotion programs that address the common risk factors for chronic disease and injury listed above.

The HPD is updated every two years, but you can submit new programs by using the ‘submit a new program’ button in the HPD dashboard. Please use the ‘feedback’ button in the HPD dashboard if you would like to provide feedback or suggestions.

The HPD explanatory document provides information about the HPD and the programs it intends to capture.

Health promotion grants

The HPD does not include information on community grants programs that support health and wellbeing. The following government agencies have the latest information on their grants programs on their websites:

Last reviewed: 30-05-2023
Produced by

Population and Preventive Health Directorate

wa.gov.au