A survey conducted by the National Heart Foundation and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, shows cardiovascular disease, although declining, is still our number one killer. Cardiovascular illness accounts for more than 50,000 deaths each year and Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders are the hardest hit, being twice as likely to die from cardiovascular disease. Indigenous Australians also suffer one of the highest rates of rheumatic heart disease in the world. However, the proportion of Australians with high blood pressure is decreasing along with high cholesterol rates in men. Heart Foundation spokesman Dr Peter French says the risk factors associated with heart disease are readily identifiable.
Asthma medications face tests.
The election campaign is coming as Australian retailers brace themselves for massive impacts from last month's terror attack in New York. The Anglican Church in Melbourne has attacked Australia's treatment of asylum seekers, with some members of the clergy calling for a royal commission.