Five Australian Acupuncture Statistics
Some interesting statistics on acupuncture & Chinese Medicine in Australia
- Acupuncture is the most accepted complementary therapy in Australia. Eighteen percent of General medicine practitioners (GP’s) have trained in a modern approach to acupuncture called medical acupuncture and use it within their practice. Seventy six percent of GP’s referred to a qualified traditional acupuncturist at least once per month.
- Chinese medicine is a four to five year bachelor degree. Four Australian Education Institutions are approved by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency to offer 4-5 year Bachelor degree level Chinese medicine courses. (1)
- Chinese medicine is a regulated profession in Australia. Chinese medicine is a regulated profession in Victoria since 2000 and nationally from July 2012 under the Chinese Medicine Board of Australia.
- A 2005 survey showed nearly one in ten Australians used acupuncture in a 12-month period. Australians made over 10 million visits to acupuncturists per annum. (1)
- Acupuncture has been in Australia for over one hundred and fifty years. The history of acupuncture in Australia can be traced back to the 1850s when the first Chinese immigrants arrived and worked in the gold fields of Australia.(1)
References
- Recent developments of acupuncture in Australia and the way forward. Charlie Changli Xue, Anthony Lin Zhang, Angela Weihong Yang, Claire Shuiqing Zhang and David Frederick Story. 2009, Chinese Medicine, pp. 4-7.