When Research Australia conducted its annual Health and Medical Research public opinion poll this year, more than 75 per cent of Australians ranked preventative health as one of the nation's key health priorities.

Unfortunately, while Australians might rank preventative health highly, it would seem our policymakers do not. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Australia's health 2016 report released last month, funding for prevention initiatives has decreased to 1.4 per cent of the health budget from almost double that number in 2008.