The Australian Naturopathic Council was invited to submit feedback to the Federal government’s National Health Literacy Strategy as part of their National Preventative Health Strategy.
Our submission emphasised the importance of including naturopaths in these strategies, and the Preventative Health Policy at large. Specifically Complementary Medicine Association and ARONAH were pleased to work on this submission on behalf of the Australian Naturopathic Council. ARONAH’s chair, Jackie has included her favourite part of the submission below:
“The ANC calls on the Australian government to harness the wealth of knowledge and expertise of the naturopathic profession…The preventative orientation of naturopaths contributes to alleviating the burden on public healthcare systems by promoting the health of consumers and preventing further movement into the healthcare system. The core philosophy of naturopathy incorporates the practice of preventive medicine and identification of the cause of illness in an individual, using nutritional and lifestyle measures by encouraging healthy behaviours, health literacy and self-responsibility (Foley et al., 2020; Steel, Tiveron, et al., 2020). Approximately 6.2% of Australians have consulted with a naturopath in the previous 12 months and 59.6% use their naturopath as their primary health care provider…(Wardle et al., 2019).”
The ANC hope that this submission will lead to further consultation with naturopaths in the preventative health space.