JOURNALIST: All right. This is a really serious issue for women, and one that is still being revealed given the fact that we've known about asthma for many a decade.
REBECCA WHITE, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING: It is something that we are learning more about, and I think its really important people understand how serious asthma can be. We know about 20 per cent of the female population in Australia are dealing with asthma and, of the number of Australians living with asthma, overall, 60 per cent of those are female. So, we know it affects a lot of women, and it affects more women than men. So, it is something we need more women to be aware of, particularly if they're going through their life because there are changes that are significant. When your hormones change like puberty, perimenopause, menopause or pregnancy, that can affect the way asthma affects your body and it's important to have a conversation with a GP about that so you can manage it effectively.
JOURNALIST: Does the Federal Government have policy on this?
WHITE: We’ve got a number of chronic conditions work that we’re doing with Asthma Australia and we’re continually involved in. But one of the things that I wanted to mention was our launch of the campaign for perimenopause and menopause. We're doing a lot to de-stigmatise perimenopause and menopause and help women find good information. It's also really important for women to have a conversation about their asthma, if they're living with asthma, with their GP if they they're going through perimenopause and menopause. I think that's one of the most important takeaways for women as we launch this campaign.
JOURNALIST: Because we've discovered the trajectory of the disease as such in the community. So, these are markers along the timeline of life where the disease can, I suppose, manifest in different forms.
WHITE: It's really important for women to understand that as they go through puberty or perimenopause or pregnancy, that they are likely to see their asthma symptoms change, and they can become more serious. So, it's really critical for them to have a conversation with their GP because these conditions can be managed and, obviously, managed really easily with the medication that we have available.
JOURNALIST: And this is a part of the world where asthma is, per capita, up there.
WHITE: We do have very high rates of asthma in Australia, and we know that more women live with asthma than men. About one in every five women have asthma in Australia. So, it is important that we make sure they're aware of the support that's available to them. But also, the fact that if they are going through pregnancy or perimenopause or menopause, that they should ask what that means for them and their asthma, and that's why we'd like to see more GP’s having this conversation. We've launched a perimenopause and menopause awareness campaign to educate women about the real information that they should be reaching out for, rather than some of the misinformation that they might access through social media, for example. So, we also want GP’s to be using that resource, having the conversations with women so that they are aware of the symptoms and the changes that might happen as they are getting older.
JOURNALIST: Is that a problem - misinformation on the net? I mean, it's a very vague, broad statement but in particular, to this particular scenario.
WHITE: We know there's a lot of information that we have access to these days, and it’s not always through traditional sources or listening to their GP. It can be through social media and not all of that is evidence-based and not all of that is very accurate. So, it is really important that campaigns like this are able to reach women and also GPs are able to have a conversation with women about their asthma and the way it might change throughout the course of their life.
JOURNALIST: Thanks for your time.