Seminar paper from the year 2011 in the subject Health - Miscellaneous, grade: A, University of California, Berkeley , language: English, abstract: Public health systems have an aim of aiding in the prevention of diseases in a country. Many diseases affect the society some of which are non-infectious chronic diseases, while others are infectious. Some of the diseases affect majority of the population in certain countries.Mental health is usually described as the way in which individuals feel, think or act as they cope with life situations. It is very important to stay mentally healthy through every stage of life. Mental illness may be as a result of disorders which are common. This paper will discuss the health care system in Australia in regard to mental health as a major concern.Statistics on the effect of mental health illness in Australia More than 20% of Australians suffer from mental illness at least ones in their lives. Some suffer from more than one form of the same. Around 20000 Australians are diagnosed of mental illness annually which raises concern within the health system. At least three million out of these get depressive illness while five percent suffer from anxiety. Others suffer from schizophrenia while others go through serious psychotic illnesses (1).There have been surveys done showing that one in every five Australians is affected by mental illness. In this category, women report more on cases of anxiety and affective disorders than men. Men however, are more likely to have disorders that are as a result of substance abuse such as alcohol. They are also more prone to schizophrenia .It has also been noted that compulsive disorders are very common in both sexes with at least 90% of eating disorders occurring among women (2). Populations most affected by mental illness are around the ages of 18 to 24 with at least 14% of children below 17years being affected by problems of mental health (2). Conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorders however occur after teenage hood with adolescents exhibiting use of drugs or high rate of suicidal thoughts. It has been noted that culture affects the access to medication since those individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds cant access health services as often as those in the mainstream population (2).Mental health illnesses have been shown to be the main cause of absenteeism in the work place in Australia.