The longest, most comprehensive review of preventative healthcare measures in Australia – the ACE-prevention report – has found that a publicly funded Sunsmart campaign could save 120,000 disability adjusted life years (DALYs) in the next 20 years.
The report, published earlier this week, reviewed 123 preventative healthcare measures to evaluate their value for money and impact upon illness and premature death, based on projected spend scenarios. The DALY measure – a standard unit of how an intervention scenario compares to no treatment or intervention, measured in healthy life years lived – showed that Sunsmart had the fourth biggest potential impact upon Australian public health, behind tobacco and fast food taxes and gastric banding in individuals with a body mass index over 35 (those considered severely obese).
When cost was factored in, Sunsmart was considered slightly more expensive than other preventative measures, but was still seen as a cost-effective investment (estimated at an average A$16,000 per DALY).
On the back of the report’s release, the Cancer Council Australia are pushing for the Australian government to increase its expenditure on the Sunsmart campaign as it was a cost-effective public health measure. Chair of Cancer Council Australia’s Public Health Committee, Craig Sinclair, said in a statement that Sunsmart’s cost effectiveness was reflective of Australia’s enormous skin cancer burden, but also of the effectiveness of public awareness campaigns.
“Our own research, based on the effectiveness of Australian Government awareness campaigns over recent summers, shows that media campaigns have the potential to dramatically reduce skin cancer death and disease in Australia,” Mr Sinclair said.
The Australian government, still in its infancy after a hung parliamentary election, is yet to respond to the report, but as summer approaches in the southern hemisphere the Cancer Council Australia argue the timing is right to commence a new awareness national skin cancer awareness campaign.
“We know prevention works, and this research adds to the evidence base around what is best value for money,” Mr Sinclair said, “the time is ideal for the Australian Government to demonstrate its commitment to saving lives and wisely investing taxpayer funds by re-introducing the national skin cancer awareness campaign.”
Editor’s note
You can read more about the development of the Sunsmart campaign in Australia in our earlier blog post: How Sunsmart changed a nation.
Image reference
‘Just another day at coogee’ uploaded to flickr.com by ‘mollybob’ on December 21, 2008 <http://www.flickr.com/photos/shelleygibb/3123873855/>.
