Diabetes Burden in Australia: National Strategy and Role of Nursing Professionals

Running head: DIABETES BURDEN IN AUSTRALIA
DIABETES BURDEN IN AUSTRALIA
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DIABETES BURDEN IN AUSTRALIA
Introduction:
Diabetes disorder has taken the form of an epidemic in the nation of Australia in the
present generation and is characterized by high blood glucose levels in the affected individuals.
It takes place when the beta cells of the pancreas secreting insulin can no longer do so or the
cells of the body develop resistance to such insulin (Huo et al., 2016). This often results the body
cells and organs to be deprived of energy resulting in increased chances of organ failures.
Diabetes results in huge number of complications like heart disorders, foot ulcers and
amputations, blindness, kidney disorders and many others. Huge number of people in the nation
had been affected by the disorder that not only makes them suffer physically but also affect their
financial stability and mental stability (Fenwick et al., 2018). Presently, this disorder had taken
the form of an epidemic creating huge health burden of the nation. If not controlled, it might
result in huge number of morbidity and mortality in the nation. This assignment will discuss
about the necessity of considering diabetes as one of the health concern that should be treated
urgently followed by discussion of a national strategy adopted by the government. This would be
followed by a detailed discussion on the action of nursing professionals in such scenarios.
Part 1:
Diabetes had become one of the most concerning health burdens on the nation. It is not
only impacting the quality of life of people but had become a huge burden on the economic
stability of the nation and affecting productivity of people to a large extent (Ventura et al., 2018).
The trend analysis showed that the prevalence of diabetes had tripled between 1989-1990 and
2014-2015. It has been found that an estimated 1.2 million people accounting for about 6% of the
Australians aged 18 years and over had been found to be suffering from diabetes in the year

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2014-2015. Among the individuals who are seen to suffer diabetes in the year 2014-2015, about
85% of the people had developed type-2 diabetes with 13.5 people reporting having type-1
diabetes. Various agencies have found 280 Australians had been found to develop diabetes every
day which indeed shows a concerning picture. It has become a burden on every family member
or the carer who lives with diabetes making literally 2.4 million Australians who are affected by
diabetes (Holmes et al., 2016). The total annual cost that had been found to be associated with
treatment of diabetes in the nation is about $14.6 billion.
Every Australian family is found to have any members starting from children to that of
the aged adults who suffer from diabetes. Hence, the target audience for diabetes management
needs to include people from all age cohort specially children who are vulnerable for type 1
diabetes and aged adults above 40 years old. About 25 to 35% of the people in families of the
nation are seen to suffer from diabetic retinopathy with a total direct cost being associated with
vision loss and macular edema is estimated to be $2.07 billion per annum (Koye et al., 2019).
This is found to be $ 28,000 per person with that of diabetic macular edema. Recent researches
have also found out that diabetic foot ulcers in Australia have been found to be around $ 2.7
billion over five years. This has been found to be $ 9000 per person with age fewer than 75 and
also about $12000 per person aged over 75 (Wilson et al., 2017). Diabetes also results in heart
attacks in many families where between on and three percept of the people suffering from
diabetes tyupe-2 experience heart attacks every year. This value can account for about 11000 and
33000 people in the nation suffering from diabetes-related heart attack in fact; it has been also
found that families where people suffer from diabetes are also seen to develop heart disorders
about 10 to 15 years earlier than that of the people who do not have diabetes. Type-2 diabetes
had been found to be overrepresented in the indigenous families where 12.8% of the people who

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are aged over 15 years had been found to be suffering from the complications of type-2 diabetes
because of unmanaged levels of glucose (Holmes et al., 2018). Because of this immense level of
suffering and the complications associated with diabetes and the huge health burden it had
resulted in healthcare expenditure and national economy, it is important for the government to
take initiatives to prevent and manage diabetes successfully in every families and communities
enabling people to live better quality lives.
Part 2:
A governmental initiative that had been developed with the aim of controlling the
diabetes prevalence in the nation is the “Australian national Diabetes strategy 2016-2020”. This
strategy outlined in response to that diabetes epidemic and focused on the aspect of informing
how limited healthcare resources can help in better coordinating and targeting across all levels of
the government. This strategy was developed in a collaborative manner providing a framework
for the collaborative efforts by the governments, and other parts of the community that included
people with diabetes, health care professionals, non-government organizations, researchers,
families, carers, communities and industry (Speight et al., 2016). For this initiative the
government had first formed the National Diabetes Strategy Advisory Group in the year 2014 for
providing advice on all the aspects of the strategy development process. Hon. Judi Moylan and
Professor Paul Zimmet AO are the co-chairmen who were experts and possessed a wide range of
experiences in the diabetes related healthcare, population research and other expertise. This
strategy was considered to be the opportunity for considering the current approaches towards
diabetes services and care and also considering the role of the governments at all levels and even
different stakeholders (Lazzarini et al., 2015). The policy makers and others experts tried to
evaluate whether the current efforts and the interests aligned with the identified needs of the