Chronic conditions

Chronic conditions are the leading cause of illness, disability and death in Australia. Common chronic conditions include cancer, heart disease and diabetes. Find out what we’re doing to prevent and manage chronic conditions in Australia.

Learn about chronic conditions

Find out what chronic conditions are and where to find more information about them.

Take action on your risk factors

You can take action to prevent, manage or treat chronic conditions. Find out how.

See our chronic conditions initiatives

Our initiatives can help you prevent or manage chronic conditions in your life.

Find out what we’re doing about chronic conditions

We support activities dealing with many types of chronic conditions.

Achievements and lessons learnt implementing the National Strategic Framework for Chronic Conditions

A refresh of the National Strategic Framework for Chronic Conditions Framework is underway. We commissioned a report on the Achievements and lessons learnt implementing the National Strategic Framework for Chronic Conditions and its associated condition specific National Strategic Actions Plans to inform the refresh of the Framework. The report considers the views of key stakeholder groups to answer the following questions:

  1. what difference is the framework making?
  2. how effective has the implementation of the framework been to date and what can we learn from it?
  3. what difference are the associated condition specific National Strategic Action Plans and Strategy making?

The report also includes recommendations to inform the refresh of the Framework.

Read the summary report for more information

In Australia, 10 common chronic conditions contribute to

66%

of the burden of disease

52%

of hospitalisations

89%

of deaths

Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2023) Chronic conditions and multimorbidity, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 25 January 2024.

The 10 conditions are arthritis, asthma, back problems, cancer, chronic kidney disease, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), diabetes, mental and behavioural conditions, osteoporosis or osteopenia, and selected heart, stroke and vascular diseases (based on underlying or associated causes of death).

Resources

Resources

National Occupational Respiratory Disease Registry – Annual Report 2024

The 2024 Annual Report gives an overview of the National Registry and summarises information notified to the National Registry in the first three months of operation and general observations. This Annual Report includes data on mandatory and voluntary notifications, exposure, occupation.

National Occupational Respiratory Disease Registry postcard

This postcard provides basic information on the National Registry such as the National Registry’s purpose, mandatory and voluntary notifications, and a link to the National Registry website for further information.

National Occupational Respiratory Disease Registry brochure

This brochure contains key information regarding the National Registry, including types of data collected, purpose of the National Registry, physician obligations, and contact details for the physician help desk. This brochure contains links to the National Registry website and the Physician Portal.