Health Sociology: An Australian Perspective

At the start of the 21st century, the issues of health and healing have a paradoxical quality to them. On the one hand, according to most measures, people are healthier than ever. For example, in economically developed countries such as Australia, people are living longer than in the past and most of them can look forward to maintaining their health well into their retirement years. Although some illnesses, such as cancer, have proven resistant to cures, substantial progress has been made with the treatment of many forms of infectious and chronic diseases and more success is likely in the future. Furthermore, when people do become ill they are likely to have ready access to a large treatment system staffed by numerous and well trained health care workers. In short, the health of people in countries such as Australia is better than it has ever been at a level that probably exceeds the most ambitious hopes of many health reformers a century ago.