More than half of all Australian women over the age of 15 have one or more of the following chronic conditions: arthritis, asthma, back problems, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, heart, stroke and vascular disease, chronic kidney disease, osteoporosis and mental health conditions.
In fact, chronic health conditions affect 1 in every 2 Australians, regardless of gender and are responsible for 70% of global deaths according to the World Health Organisation. But experts believe that early intervention could prevent one third of these chronic conditions.
The need for access to proactive healthcare has never been more urgent as individuals seek to intercept potential health issues before they develop. With that in mind, Australian start-up, Health Hunter, has created a digital platform that connects people with preventative health providers and services.
Co-Founders Brianna Vidal and Sarah Mullens, both locals to the Northern Beaches and mums themselves, are very passionate about inspiring women to take their health into their own hands and promoting preventative women’s health. They developed the platform after experiencing the difficulty of finding such practitioners firsthand.
Sarah comments, “Individually, we all experience the effect of chronic health issues, ourselves or with our loved ones. Tackling Australia’s biggest health challenge starts with education and access. With today’s digitisation, there’s no reason that we shouldn’t have a personalised health search platform for these types of conditions.”
Health Hunter takes a holistic approach, offering personalised searches augmented by an array of resources, articles, apps and digital communities that empower individuals to make informed decisions as they take control of their health.
“It’s not just a solution, it’s a paradigm shift,” says Brianna. “Our aim is to reduce the cost and pressure of chronic health to Australians by keeping the ‘healthy’ healthy and trying to prevent illness by helping more Australians access preventative care. Health Hunter provides access to practitioners who are currently very hard to find. These are doctors who have done additional training in lifestyle, integrative or functional medicine and have particular health interest areas.”
Take Marie’s story as an example. Suffering from ongoing digestive issues and IBS, she struggled through various GPs and tests without finding a resolution. Health Hunter transformed her journey by providing a personalised search that matched her with an accredited GP, specialising in gut health in her area in East Melbourne. Marie shares, “It was incredible to find a Doctor who has a particular interest in IBS and who had the specific desire to get to the root cause of my concerns. The normal 6 minute medicine appointments are just not at all enough for people who have complex health issues, my typical appointment is 45 mins to an hour.”
Professor Steve Robson, Federal Australian Medical Association (AMA) President says “We are now seeing patients presenting with more advanced disease and conditions as a direct result of missed opportunities for prevention and early intervention. The pervasive impact of poor health is widely acknowledged, yet governments continue to view healthcare as a cost to be managed, rather than an investment to be made ― a paradigm that has inadvertently shaped a ‘sick care’ system rather than a holistic healthcare system that tackles both existing health issues and prioritises prevention. The time has come to reframe our thinking.”
With more than 15 years of experience in healthcare marketing, Co-Founders Brianna and Sarah have a strong passion for preventative health. They developed the platform to make an impact on chronic health in Australia and want to provide a digital ecosystem for preventative health, a place that enables and empowers people to understand and manage their health in a proactive way.
As Health Hunter emerges as a beacon of change in the healthcare landscape, it takes its place among the top startups to watch. The platform signifies a transformative step toward preventative healthcare and is an addition to the positive movement and discussion for reshaping the conversation around healthcare in Australia.
Health Hunter is a digital platform that connects people with preventative health providers and services. Their mission is to reduce the impact of chronic disease on the population by making preventative health care models more easily accessible to all Australians.
On the platform, people can find practitioners, as well as learn more about their health in a preventable and holistic way.