National Monitoring in Public Health Nutrition

This page contains information on the National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey Program, the 2007 Australian National Children’s Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey and the 1995 National Nutrition Survey.

In this section:

2007 Australian National Children's Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey

The Department of Health and Ageing, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, and the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC), each contributed $1 million to fund the 2007 Australian National Children's Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey.

The CSIRO and the University of South Australia were jointly contracted to implement the survey and report on the results. A steering group of representatives from the funding agencies was established to oversee the survey’s management. In addition, a group of technical and scientific experts provided advice to ensure that the data collection and analysis processes were robust and undertaken independently.

Data from the survey provides the information needed for public and private sectors to work together to develop targeted strategies to address a range of health concerns in children.

Publications related to the 2007 Australian National Children’s Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey:

The Main Findings of the 2007 Australian National Children’s Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey, provide an assessment of children’s food and nutrient intake, physical activity levels and physical measurements against the existing national dietary and physical activity guidelines;
A summary of the survey’s main findings is available in the Fact Sheet – Key Findings;
A summary of the survey's methodology is available in the Fact Sheet - Survey Methodology;
Detailed information on the survey, including survey methodology and questionnaires, is available from the 2007 Australian National Children’s Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey User Guide;
Joint Media Release (from the Department of Health and Ageing, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, and the Australian Food and Grocery Council).

Access to the results database is available through the Australian Social Sciences Data Archive (ASSDA) at the Australian National University.

National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey Program

The Australian Government through the Department of Health and Ageing is currently planning the development and implementation of an ongoing National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey Program. The Survey Program will collect data on the food intake, physical activity participation and physical measurements of the Australian population through periodic surveys. The first survey is expected to commence in late 2009 and is expected to focus on Australian adults. The Department is currently planning an expansion of the Survey Program to collect data on biomedical and other nutrition and physical activity indicators.

1995 National Nutrition Survey

The last National Nutrition Survey was conducted in conjunction with the National Health Survey in 1995 by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Department of Health and Ageing. The results were released between 1997 and 1999.

The Australian Food and Nutrition Monitoring Unit were funded by the Department to undertake the National Food and Nutrition Monitoring Project. The Unit was comprised of a consortium of Universities including staff from relevant specialty areas within the University of Queensland, the University of Sydney and Deakin University. This survey resulted in a series of reports which provided a basis for a coordinated national food and nutrition information framework and bridged some important gaps in the overall picture of nutrition monitoring and surveillance in Australia.

The publications were developed as a result of consultation with stakeholders through an Advisory Committee comprising of members from the Department of Health and Ageing, the Australian Food and Grocery Council, Food Standards Australia New Zealand, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, the University of Queensland, the Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, and the National Public Health Partnership’s Strategic Inter-Governmental Nutrition Alliance. Additional consultations were conducted for some individual reports including the use of technical working groups, reviewers and contributions from key stakeholders in government and non-government agencies.

A total of 13 publications were produced and are available in PDF format or hard copy.