The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us many lessons. Over the past two years, we have seen the strength of the Australian health system. Time and again, our health system has innovated and adapted to meet evolving challenges, potentially saving thousands of lives.
Our success in tackling COVID-19 gives me hope that we can also address another major health epidemic of the 21st century: diabetes.
Currently, more than 1.9 million Australians are living with various types of diabetes, and this number continues to rise. In the past 12 months alone, nearly 120,000 people have been diagnosed with diabetes. This serious lifelong condition significantly impacts mortality and can lead to a range of debilitating complications. It contributes to over 10% of all deaths in Australia and is the leading cause of vision loss, limb amputation, kidney failure, and heart disease.
Diabetes also imposes a substantial economic burden, costing the Australian economy nearly $17 billion annually, with this figure expected to increase as more people develop the condition.
The good news is that we know what needs to be done. The new National Diabetes Strategy 2021-2030 outlines clear policies to reduce the impact of diabetes. As the COVID-19 pandemic has shown, great things are possible when we focus on addressing a health challenge.
First, as a community, we need to do more to prevent type 2 diabetes. We know that type 2 diabetes can be prevented or delayed in up to 58% of people. Several Australian states are currently running type 2 diabetes prevention programs, but we need national leadership and funding to achieve a broader impact. Alarmingly, nearly 2 million people are living with prediabetes and are at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes. We must help as many people as possible reduce their risk.
We can also improve early diagnosis to manage the condition effectively. Up to 500,000 people are living with undiagnosed type 2 diabetes. Several hospital-based programs have cost-effectively diagnosed tens of thousands of people who might otherwise have only become aware of the condition when serious complications developed. Broadly adopting these programs would have a significant impact.
Reducing the impact of complications requires urgent action, especially after COVID-19, where lockdowns and other measures disrupted normal healthcare. Australia already has world-class diabetes blindness prevention (KeepSight) and amputations prevention (FootForward) programs. We can apply the lessons learned from these programs to other challenges, such as reducing the impact of chronic kidney disease on people with diabetes.
In recent years, there has been a welcome focus on improving the quality of care in residential aged care. One area needing more attention is enhancing the specialized diabetes care available to residents. At least 20% of people in residential aged care live with diabetes. They deserve high-quality, consistent care wherever they live in Australia to ensure a good quality of life.
Finally, we need to address the impact of diabetes on First Nations communities, where people are up to four times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes and much more likely to die from the condition. First Nations people are developing type 2 diabetes at younger ages, making them more susceptible to complications. We need to provide culturally appropriate support and care much earlier to minimize the impact of the condition.
Meeting the challenges of the diabetes epidemic will not be easy, but it is not impossible. We have seen what our health system can achieve when it is focused on addressing a major health challenge.
Addressing the diabetes epidemic will be challenging, but it is certainly achievable. Our health system has proven its capability in tackling health crises before, and we can rise to the occasion once more.
* Justine Cain is group CEO of Diabetes Australia.
Justine Cain of Diabetes Australia, ‘Silent Assassin: COVID-19 has shown us that we can tackle a national health crisis. Now, let’s fix type 2 diabetes’, Canberra Times, The: Web Edition Articles (online), 14 Dec 2021 ‹https://infoweb-newsbank-com.ezproxy.sl.nsw.gov.au/apps/news/document-view?p=AWGLNB&docref=news/186E2E5126FD6A30›