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NSWBiologyQuick questions
Module 8: Non-infectious Disease and Disorders
Quick questions on Prevention of non-infectious disease: HSC Biology Module 8
15short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is education programmes?Show answer
Education increases health literacy and changes behaviour. Effective programmes have clear messaging, repeated exposure, structural support (regulation, infrastructure) and target specific behaviours.
What is screening programmes?Show answer
Screening tests asymptomatic people to detect disease early, when treatment is more effective and survival is higher.
What is genetic counselling and screening?Show answer
Couples with a family history of inherited disease can access genetic counselling and carrier screening before pregnancy (cystic fibrosis, fragile X, spinal muscular atrophy). Prenatal screening (combined first-trimester screening, NIPT) detects trisomies. These programmes reduce the incidence of severe genetic disease.
What is structural and regulatory interventions?Show answer
Education is more effective when backed by structural change.
What is worked example?Show answer
A coordinated three-pronged programme has produced one of the world's lowest cervical cancer rates.
What is sunSmart?Show answer
Launched 1981 by Cancer Council Victoria with the Slip-Slop-Slap slogan; expanded to Slip-Slop-Slap-Seek-Slide. Targets skin cancer through sun protection. Backed by no-hat-no-play policies in schools, shade structures, and free sunscreen.
What is qUIT?Show answer
Tobacco cessation campaign with graphic warnings, plain packaging (2012), the Quitline, nicotine replacement subsidies on the PBS, and indoor smoking bans. Adult smoking rates fell from 35 percent in 1980 to under 11 percent in 2022.
What is liveLighter?Show answer
Targets obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease through advertising on the harms of excess sugar and processed food. More mixed evidence on outcomes; obesity rates have continued to rise, suggesting education alone is insufficient.
What is drink Wise / Don't Drink and Drive?Show answer
Targets alcohol-related disease and trauma through warning labels, advertising restrictions and graphic campaigns.
What is breastScreen Australia?Show answer
Free biennial mammography for women aged 50 to 74. Detects ductal carcinoma in situ and small invasive cancers before they are palpable. Reduces breast cancer mortality by approximately 20 to 25 percent in regularly screened women.
What is national Cervical Screening Programme?Show answer
Since 2017, replaced two-yearly Pap smears with five-yearly HPV testing from age 25. Combined with the HPV vaccine (introduced 2007), cervical cancer incidence has halved and Australia is on track to be the first country to effectively eliminate cervical cancer.
What is national Bowel Cancer Screening Programme?Show answer
Free immunochemical faecal occult blood test (iFOBT) every two years for adults aged 50 to 74, mailed directly to homes. Detects adenomatous polyps and early bowel cancer. Has reduced bowel cancer mortality by approximately 15 to 20 percent in screened groups.
What is newborn screening?Show answer
Within 48 hours of birth, blood is tested for over 25 conditions including phenylketonuria, congenital hypothyroidism and cystic fibrosis. Early detection allows dietary or hormonal intervention that prevents severe disability.
What is mole-watch and skin checks?Show answer
Not a formal national programme, but Cancer Council and GP-led skin checks identify melanoma early. Self-examination using the ABCDE rule (Asymmetry, Border, Colour, Diameter, Evolution) is taught widely.
What is outcome?Show answer
Cervical cancer incidence in Australia has fallen from approximately 14 per 100 000 in 1991 to under 7 per 100 000 in 2022. Australia is projected to effectively eliminate cervical cancer (incidence under 4 per 100 000) by 2035.