Hi my name is Ali Kosh

Way too many people leave their health entirely in the hands of their GP.

But think about it for a moment.

How many people actually see their GP when they have no issues?

Most of us only enter the healthcare system once symptoms appear. We wait until something feels wrong, then we react. Generally speaking, we rarely engage with the system for prevention or for actively improving our health.

Ask yourself this:
Do you know anyone who has gone to their GP and asked, “How can I become healthier?”

And if they did—what would the answer likely be?

After a moment of confusion, the response would probably be:
“Well… eat more vegetables and exercise.”

And for more proactive GPs, the approach often looks like this:

“Let’s run a full series of head-to-toe tests and make sure all your numbers are within the normal range.”

If everything comes back within the norm, the conversation ends there.

“Great news. See you next year.”

And if one or more numbers are outside the norm, the medical treadmill begins—often without clear direction, education, or long-term behavioural support.

Unless there is a serious abnormality, this is usually the point where the system becomes truly interested.

But being ‘within normal range’ does not mean being healthy. It does not mean resilient, strong, metabolically fit, or protected against future disease.

Prevention rarely lives in the space between those numbers.

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Before illness? Very little support.
After illness? Minimal guidance.
Prevention? Almost non-existent.

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Yes, some proactive individuals attend regular check-ups—but they are the minority.

My Mission

My mission is to reform the way we approach healthcare—shifting it from a predominantly reactive system to a proactive one, by placing people back in the driver’s seat of their own health.

Australia has one of the best healthcare systems in the world. We are incredibly fortunate when it comes to managing serious and acute illness. Our system is advanced, subsidised, and accessible, allowing people from all backgrounds to receive high-quality medical care. That is something truly beautiful, and I am deeply grateful for it.

But the system largely fails when there is no diagnosable disease—whether someone has symptoms or not.

When it comes to prevention, the system almost doesn’t exist.

This includes:

• Preventing chronic illness before it begins

• Supporting people during early warning stages

• Preventing relapse or decline after medical treatment

As much as we excel at managing disease, we do very little to stop people from reaching that point in the first place.

And this raises important questions.

Are we doing enough to support self-care?
Why are so many people chronically ill—medicated, yet still unwell?
Why are so many people overweight or metabolically unhealthy, often without symptoms?

Yes, individuals are responsible for their own wellbeing.
But has the healthcare system done its due diligence to truly support them?

Our system waits for disease to be diagnosable. Once symptoms appear, the treadmill starts running. Until then, people are largely left on their own.

A Hard Truth About Prevention

I have a bone to pick with much of general practice—not because GPs don’t care, but because prevention is simply not prioritised.

This may be because:

• They are overwhelmed and time-poor

• They lack clear preventative frameworks

• They have limited referral pathways

• Or the system provides few resources for preventative care

Take a common example: prediabetes.

What usually happens?

“You’re borderline. Eat better, exercise, and come back in six months.”
“You’re not diabetic yet. Come back in six months—if it’s worse, we’ll start medication.”
A more proactive GP might say: “Go see a dietitian.”

And that’s about as good as it gets.

Now we’re seeing drastic weight-loss medications explode in popularity—because everyone is searching for the pill. The shortcut. The quick fix.

But imagine a system that genuinely prioritised keeping people healthy, rather than managing sickness.

Some progressive countries are already moving in this direction—Singapore being a great example—through incentives, education, and public accountability.

I am here to help make Australia the most progressive country in the world when it comes to staying healthy, not just treating illness once it arrives.

What Needs to Change

First, constant education.
Health education should be everywhere—through media, schools, workplaces, and public messaging.

Second, incentives for healthy behaviour.
Why shouldn’t part of our tax system be allocated to proactive health education and prevention?

Ask yourself:
How often do you see ads on TV promoting healthy lifestyle change?
And how often do you see gambling, alcohol, or fast-food ads?

The imbalance is staggering.

We glamorise unhealthy behaviours, then add a tiny, meaningless warning at the end. A beautiful whisky advertisement followed by a rushed disclaimer does nothing to protect public health.

That isn’t prevention.
It’s performative responsibility.

We can do better.
We must do better.

And it starts by empowering people to take the driver’s seat in their own health—before sickness ever arrives.

If you want, I can now:
• shorten this into a website manifesto
• adapt it into a keynote speech
• rewrite it as a LinkedIn thought-leadership article
• or align it directly with Team8’s mission and services