Translate20-Year Preventive Health Strategy
Why a 20-Year Preventive Health Strategy?
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The Tasmanian Government is currently developing the 20-Year Preventive Health Strategy to make this a reality for all Tasmanians.
This strategy is about more than just healthcare – it’s about creating environments that make the healthy choice the easy choice and support people to live well from the start.
Why does this matter? Because good health isn’t just about feeling ‘not sick’, it’s about feeling strong, happy, and able to do the things that matter.
Did you know?
Over 70% of our health happens outside the health system, starting in our schools, local businesses, parks, and neighbourhoods. The environments we live, work, and play in really impact our health.
Have your say!
We want to hear from you:
- What makes life better for you?
- What’s working well?
- What could be improved?
This is your opportunity to get involved, make your voice heard, and ensure your community’s needs are taken into account. When you speak up, you help make sure the things that matter most get noticed and acted on.
It’s time to make feeling great a part of everyday life for all Tasmanians.
Timeframe
- 23 October 2024: Consultation opens
- 25 May 2025: Consultation closes
- July 2025: First draft of the Strategy produced
- July 2025: Independent expert review
- August 2025: Final draft produced
- October 2025: Strategy launch
How the Strategy will be built
- Learning from other strategies and plans around the world
- Looking at what’s already been shared through past consultations
- Using statistics and data
- Looking at the latest research and evidence
- Mapping what other teams are working on
- Reviewing past evaluations and reports
- Public consultation
- Targeted consultation
We are working with the Australian Prevention Partnership Centre and its network of 900 experts across Australian research institutes and organisations to help inform and shape the Strategy.
A long-term approach
Improving health doesn’t happen overnight – it takes time, consistency, and the right approach. This Strategy won’t list every action for the next 20 years, otherwise it would go out of date quickly. Instead, it will set a clear direction to guide Tasmania’s approach to prevention.
We’re developing the first four-year action plan alongside the Strategy. These plans will outline specific actions and be updated every four years. Each cycle will include evaluation so we can learn what works and make changes as needed.
We’ll also use health intelligence – collecting and analysing data in real-time – to understand community needs, predict future challenges, and make sure resources go where they’re needed most.
Learn more with Dr Scott McKeown
In this short video, Dr Scott McKeown, Deputy Director of Public Health, explains what preventive health is, the approach we will take to developing the 20-year Strategy, and how the Strategy will be built.
What is preventive health?
- Preventive health is the term for activities that help protect, promote, and maintain health and wellbeing. Preventive health works to stop health conditions from developing in the first place.
- In the context of preventive health, prevention describes activities to keep people healthy and well, and preventing risk of poor health, illness, injury and early death.
- There are many types of prevention, depending on where someone is in their health journey. Even if someone is already unwell, there are still things we can do to stop their condition from getting worse and to prevent other health issues.
- Here’s a breakdown of the different types of prevention:
Primordial prevention describes activities to create enabling environments that promote health. This is through encouraging healthy behaviours such as physical activity. It is also through providing access to healthy food, clean air, water, sanitation and more.
Primary prevention describes activities to prevent health issues before they start. This is through addressing risk factors and might include things like:
- Having healthy foods in school canteens and workplaces.
- Supporting breastfeeding.
- Protecting health through measures such as immunisation.
Secondary prevention describes activities to find and treat health issues early to stop them getting worse. Some of the ways we can identify people at risk of ill-health include:
- Self-management programs and improving health literacy.
- Screening programs.
- General health examinations and check-ups.
- Early detection and treatment of additional health problems and complications.
Tertiary prevention focuses on reducing harms in people with a disease or disorder and minimising their functional impairment. This includes management of co-morbidities, complications and associated disabilities.
Quaternary prevention focuses on reducing harms caused by medical interventions for a disease or disorder.
What types of prevention will the Strategy focus on?
- The Strategy will take a whole-system approach, covering all types of prevention.
- However, the action plans developed under the Strategy will focus mainly on preventing health problems before they happen (primordial and primary prevention) and catching them early (secondary prevention).
- This is because things like managing existing health conditions or the risks of medical treatments (tertiary and quaternary prevention) are already addressed through other important health plans, like Our Healthcare Future: Advancing Tasmanian’s Health and the Long-Term Plan for Healthcare in Tasmania 2040. Learn more about these plans.
- This way, we avoid doubling up and put our efforts where they’ll make the biggest difference.
The Discussion Paper
The discussion paper is the first step in shaping Tasmania’s plan for preventive health over the next 20 years.
It’s not the final strategy, but it lays out key ideas to get you thinking and help guide your feedback. It also includes the questions we’d love your input on.
Inside, you’ll find possible goals, focus areas for action, what will help make the strategy work, and how government, services, and communities can play a role.
Download the Discussion Paper to learn more
Have your say
Community consultation is now open for the 20-Year Preventive Health Strategy, and we want to hear from all Tasmanians. What makes life better for you and your community? What’s working? What could be improved?
Your health, your future, your say.
Ready to make a difference? Explore the options below to get involved and have your say!
How to have your say
The Discussion Paper and Participant Information Statement contain important information about the consultation as well as the questions we want to ask you.
Read the Discussion Paper and Participant Information Statement, then have your say through one of the following:
Complete an online survey
- Complete the community survey (members of the public).
- Complete the stakeholder survey (representatives from government organisations, community sector organisations, business sector organisations, healthcare professionals and researchers).
Email a formal submission
- Email your feedback to [email protected]. You can send feedback in any format, including text, pictures, voice recordings, or short videos.
Attend a regional forum
- Attend one of our face-to-face sessions across the state in March 2025.
- Register at: https://www.engagetasmania.com.au/regionalforumsdoh.
- Venue details will be available soon.
| Location | Date | Time | Venue | RSVP Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Launceston | Tue 18 March 2025 | 4pm–6pm | Coming soon | Register here |
| Burnie | Wed 19 March 2025 | 4pm–6pm | Coming soon | Register here |
| Hobart | Thu 20 March 2025 | 4pm–6pm | Coming soon | Register here |
| Online Forum 1 | Tue 25 March 2025 | 11am–1pm | Online | Register here |
| Online Forum 2 | Wed 26 March 2025 | 12:30pm–2:30pm | Online | Register here |
Phone us
- Phone the Public Health Hotline on 1800 671 738 and select option 3 during business hours.
Consultation closes on Sunday 25 May 2025.
What other types of consultation are happening?
In addition to the options above, we are running a range of different targeted consultation types. These are listed below.
We are holding workshops with key sectors involved in the preventive health space, such as local government networks, coalitions relevant to preventive health, organisational teams, key governance groups.
If you believe your sector would benefit from a workshop, please contact us at [email protected].
One-on-one interviews will be conducted with key leaders in preventive health.
Health Consumers Tasmania will be working with local communities and consumers to share what we’ve learned from conversations over the years about preventive health and make sure we have it right.
Sessions are being held in:
- Ulverstone (Central Coast Voice for Health)
- Dorset/Scottsdale (Better Health Dorset)
- Tasman Peninsula (Tasman Voice for Health)
- Huon Valley (Huon Valley Voice for Health)
- Glamorgan/Spring Bay
- Central Highlands
If you are part of any of these communities or identify as a health consumer, and would like to learn more about how to get involved, please contact Health Consumers Tasmania at [email protected] or call 03 6210 2800.
We are co-designing a consultation approach specifically for children and young people, and we will have more information available shortly.
If you are aged 25 and under and would like to learn more about how to get involved, please reach out to us at [email protected].
There are a number of different groups within Tasmania who experience a disproportionate burden of disease, leading to differences in health outcomes and life expectancy. This inequitable burden of disease is not due to personal fault or responsibility, rather, it is largely avoidable. It is well known that the main causes of these disparities are social inequality and social disadvantage.
We will build on what we’ve already heard through previous consultations and work with each priority group to understand their engagement preferences.
These groups include, but are not limited to, the following communities:
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
- Culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities
- Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer or questioning, asexual and/ or other sexuality and gender diverse people (LGBTIQA+) Tasmanians
- Children and young people
- Older people
- people with disability
- Veterans and ex-serving members
- people who are neurodivergent
- people living with mental illness
- people of low socioeconomic status
- rural, regional and remote Tasmanians.
If you identify with any of these groups and would like more information on how to get involved, please reach out to us at [email protected].
Tasmania’s Health Senate will meet over two days in March 2025 to discuss preventive health and help shape the Strategy.
The Premier’s Health and Wellbeing Advisory Council will meet multiple times to provide input and guidance on the Strategy.
What happens next?
Your feedback will help shape Tasmania’s approach to preventive health for the next 20 years.
Once consultation closes, we’ll review all submissions and use them to develop the final Strategy and first action plan.
We’ll also publish a consultation report so you can see how your input has been included.
Stay informed
Check back to our website for regular updates.
Coming soon: Sign up for our mailing list to get the latest news straight to your inbox.
Questions or ideas? Reach out to the team at: [email protected].
Resources
General
Community members
- View the In-language translated resources about the 20-Year Preventive Health Strategy consultation for community members
- View the Easy Read resource for the 20-Year Preventive Health Strategy
