According to a new health tracker for 2016 out of a chosen 100 people in the Parkes Shire 22 of them would be smokers and 18 would drink at “risky” levels, based on 2011 data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
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The tracker released by the Australian Health Policy Collaboration aims to provide a comprehensive assessment of the health of Australians in relation to chronic diseases and their risk factors.
But how does the rest of the region measure up with Cowra?
Out of 100 people from Boorowa 18 would drink at a risky level and 20 would be smokers.
Seventeen out of 100 people from Young would drink at risky levels and 21 would be classed as a smoker.
If you were to select 100 people from Cowra 18 would drink at risky levels and 23 would be smokers.
When you pull 100 people out of Forbes 19 would be risky drinkers and 23 would be smokers.
If a group of 100 people were taken from Cabonne Shire 19 would be termed risky drinkers and 18 would be considered smokers and Weddin Shire would be split evenly with 20 people out of 100 being smokers and 20 out of the 100 considered risky drinkers.
For the purpose of the report the indicator for a person to be considered at risk of long-term risky drinking was a person (aged 15+) reporting an average alcohol consumption of more than two standard drinks per day over the past year.
The indicator for those at risk of health issues in relation to smoking were based on self-reported data, reported to interviewers.
For the purpose of the report a current smoker is an adult who reported at the time of interview that they smoked manufactured (packet) cigarettes, roll-your-own cigarettes, cigars, and/or pipes at least once per week, however the report excluded chewing tobacco and smoking of non-tobacco products.
The report concluded that the best way to reduce the levels of harmful drinking was to focus policies on the price, physical availability and promotion of alcohol.
It also concluded that though smoking rates had decreased, the tobacco industry, lobbyists and supporters would continue to be significant disrupters to tobacco control efforts and the next step in tobacco use reduction should be in regulation on the contents of tobacco products, including regulatory controls on product ingredients, measuring, testing and reporting on the contents and emissions of tobacco products.
