Government fails diabetes patients with no implementation or funding plan

Medical & Science: Ahead of World Diabetes Day on 14 November, A/Professor Sof Andrikopoulos, CEO of the Australian Diabetes Society (ADS), has delivered a sobering message: urgent action is needed to address Australia’s escalating diabetes crisis.

Nearly 1.5 million Australians are registered with the National Diabetes Services Scheme (NDSS) as living with diabetes, with an estimated half a million more suffering in silence with undiagnosed diabetes. The economic impact is staggering, with projected direct and indirect costs amounting to at least $14.6 billion.

Beyond the numbers, diabetes is a leading cause of hospitalisations and a major driver of complications such as cardiovascular disease, stroke, chronic kidney disease, foot ulceration and amputation, blindness, and severe mental health challenges including anxiety, distress, and depression. These outcomes are even more dire for people in regional and remote Australia and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.

“Worryingly,” A/Professor Andrikopoulos emphasised, “funding for diabetes research has significantly decreased by 35% over the past decade, according to the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, while the NDSS has recorded a 32% increase in Australians living with diabetes.”

Despite these alarming trends, current measures have fallen short. The Australian National Diabetes Strategy, with its seven well-outlined goals, and the Parliamentary Inquiry into Diabetes Report, which includes 23 crucial recommendations, both lack a critical element: implementation.

“For both of these Federal Government initiatives, there is no implementation plan and no associated funding,” A/Professor Andrikopoulos stated. “We’ve poured time and effort into a national strategy and a parliamentary inquiry, but we’ve dropped the ball on the most important part: implementation.”

So, what needs to change? A/Professor Andrikopoulos calls for decisive action:

1. Increased funding for diabetes research, especially in the area of discovery research.
2. A comprehensive, well-resourced implementation plan for the National Diabetes Strategy.
3. Proper enactment and funding of the key recommendations from the Parliamentary Inquiry into Diabetes Report.

“We must do better,” he declared passionately. “Australians living with diabetes and their families deserve better. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples living with diabetes most certainly deserve much, much better.”

He concluded with a strong appeal: “I call upon the Federal, State, and Territory Governments, along with key stakeholders, to unite, develop appropriate implementation plans, and secure the funding needed to deliver real change for people with diabetes.”

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