The economic feasibility of price discounts to improve diet in Australian Aboriginal remote communities

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Magnus, A
Moodie, ML
Ferguson, M
Cobiac, LJ
Liberato, SC
Brimblecombe, J
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2016
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Abstract

Objective: To estimate the cost-effectiveness of fiscal measures applied in remote community food stores for Aboriginal Australians. Methods: Six price discount strategies on fruit, vegetables, diet drinks and water were modelled. Baseline diet was measured as 12 months' actual food sales data in three remote Aboriginal communities. Discount-induced changes in food purchases were based on published price elasticity data while the weight of the daily diet was assumed constant. Dietary change was converted to change in sodium and energy intake, and body mass index (BMI) over a 12-month period. Improved lifetime health outcomes, modelled for the remote population of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, were converted to disability adjusted life years (DALYs) saved using a proportional multistate lifetable model populated with diet-related disease risks and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rates of disease. Results: While dietary change was small, five of the six price discount strategies were estimated as cost-effective, below a $50,000/DALY threshold. Conclusion: Stakeholders are committed to finding ways to reduce important inequalities in health status between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and non-Indigenous Australians. Price discounts offer potential to improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health. Verification of these results by trial-based research coupled with consideration of factors important to all stakeholders is needed.

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Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health

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40

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S1

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© 2015 The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

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Epidemiology

Health services and systems

Public health

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders

cost-effectiveness

fiscal strategies

nutrition

price elasticity

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Magnus, A; Moodie, ML; Ferguson, M; Cobiac, LJ; Liberato, SC; Brimblecombe, J, The economic feasibility of price discounts to improve diet in Australian Aboriginal remote communities, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 2016, 40 (S1), pp. S36-S41

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