National Eating Disorders Collaboration

The new National Eating Disorders Collaboration will bring together eating disorder experts in mental health, public health, health promotion, education, and research, as well as the media to help develop a consistent approach to the prevention and treatment of eating disorders.

This initiative will contribute to ensuring that young people with eating disorders are able to access evidence-based, consistent information through avenues such as schools, the media and health service providers.

Eating disorders are serious mental health conditions involving intense anxiety and preoccupation with body weight and shape, eating and weight control. One in 100 adolescent girls develops anorexia nervosa, and five in 100 develop bulimia nervosa. Anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric illness, with approximately 15-20 per cent dying within 20 years.

The collaboration will deliver the following outcomes:

A review of information currently available to young people and their families on the prevention and management of eating disorders through the web and existing organisations
A collaboration of key organisations and eating disorder experts in mental health, public health, health promotion, education and research, as well as media experts
The promotion of evidence-based messages and information about the prevention and management of eating disorders to schools, the media and to health service providers
The development of an evidence-based framework for the development of promotion, prevention and early interventions for eating disorders targeting school aged children and
The provision of evidence-based information to government on how to progress and target effective messages around both obesity and eating disorders.