Diabetes in Australia: Prevalence, Impact, and Government Policies

This report provides a comprehensive overview of diabetes in Australia, addressing its prevalence, impact, and the government's policy responses. It begins by introducing diabetes as a significant public health challenge, highlighting the two main types (Type 1 and Type 2) and the increasing number of undiagnosed cases. The report delves into the impact of diabetes on the Australian population, including associated health complications like cardiovascular issues, eye diseases, and kidney problems. It further explores the economic burden of diabetes and the government's efforts to combat the rising rates, including the declaration of diabetes as a national health priority and the implementation of various preventative and screening programs. The report also examines the goals outlined in the Australian government's five-year strategy plan, focusing on preventing Type 2 diabetes, promoting early detection, and improving the quality of life for individuals living with diabetes. The report emphasizes the importance of prevention, early detection, and effective management to mitigate the long-term consequences of diabetes and improve public health outcomes.

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Diabetes
Introduction
Diabetes is currently the world’s most challenging health problem of the 21st century. One third
of the Australian population is suffering from diabetes including those who are not yet
diagnosed. It causes diseases like cardiovascular attacks, joint pains, and kidney and eye disease.
There are two main types of diabetes: type 1 which is a result of the destruction of autoimmune
pancreatic beta cells which are the producers of insulin (Lazzarini et al., 2013). Due to this
body’s own insulin production powers gets finished and one has to take insulin injections on
daily basis to survive. This badly affects their personal and professional life because it is not easy
for them to handle the pressure and stress which arises out of this. Many precautions have to be
taken, they have to be more cautious towards their eating habits it becomes very difficult to lead
a normal life and all these results in depression or anxiety. People who are suffering from this
type of diabetes have to daily monitor their glucose level 6-8 times (Burki, 2016).
Around 10% of the Australian population is suffering from this type of diabetes. It has no age
bar, it can occur in children, teenagers or adults. Currently, this type does not have any cure and
is most commonly seen in children of Australia, which is one of the highest in the world.
Another type of diabetes is type 2 which is insulin resistance and is impaired with insulin
secretion. It is the most common type of diabetes which is seen in 85% of the Australian
population. It is diagnosed after the age of 40, although it is seen in children and in some cases
adults also but less often (Burki, 2016). This type of diabetes if genetic and is affected by the

Diabetes 2
lifestyle one adopts, obesity and lack of exercise. It can be easily controlled by adopting a
healthy diet, exercising regularly and taking proper medications.
There is also a term known as pre-diabetes in which sugar level in blood is high but not that high
that it can be termed as diabetes. There are two conditions under which it can be detected one is
fasting sugar level and another one is random sugar level. Individuals having pre diabetes are
more prone to cardiovascular disease. Many studies show that it is most common in the age
group from 25 to 35 years (Lazzarini et al., 2013). There is no cure for diabetes so it is very
challenging for the person and his family to cope up with the situation (Robert et al., 2016).
Living a life with diabetes creates a lot of physical problems affecting both personal and
professional life and sometimes even requires additional help from family and friends. Keeping a
balance between diabetes and lifestyle is very important; glucose level must be maintained
continuously by involving in more and more of physical workouts, reducing the time gap
between meals and taking regular medicines (Robert et al., 2016). There are several long term
consequences of increased glucose level; it affects eyes, kidneys, circulatory and nervous system.
Stress is also one of the major factors which affect diabetes badly; it can lead to anxiety or
depression especially in the young generation. It has become a challenge for the current
generation (Robert et al., 2016).
Diabetes a silent pandemic
Diabetes is becoming one of the most challenging public health problems of the century and is
gradually reaching a level where it is becoming a threat. Nevertheless, it is becoming under
reported as patients’ suffering from type 2 does not realize that they are suffering from this
disease until they develop complications, which may take years to diagnose (Thomson, 2006). In

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Australia out of every 5 diagnosed cases, 4 are undiagnosed. Few people do not consider
diabetes important because it does not lead to death unless and until it is accompanied by some
other disease (Burki, 2016). The high prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes and the increasing risk
of diabetes and cardiovascular disease emphasize socio economic burden so it is very important
to detect it the early stage. Approximately 1 million Australians have been diagnosed with
diabetes some or the other time in life. A large number of people are undiagnosed which adds up
to the total of 1.5 million. It is most common in Australian men rather women and is more
prevalent in the northern region as compared to Australian Capital Territory (Gough, 2013). In
2008 more than 5800 children in Australia were diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Organization
economic cooperation and development has 34 countries as members of which Australia is the 6th
highest in the incidence of diabetes (Gough, 2013). Reasons are not clear but may be due to
genetics, type 1 diabetes is most commonly seen in the people of northern Europe. Same is the
case with type 2 diabetes; numbers are getting acute day by day among youth (Thomson, 2006).
Impact of diabetes in Australia
Diabetes is generally connected with the nerve damage and poor circulation in the lower limbs
which may lead to foot ulcers or infection. Approximately 13% of the Australians are suffering
from this infection due to nerve damage. These after effects depend on the blood glucose level,
age factor, blood pressure and smoking. Another implication of diabetes is on eyes, people who
are suffering from diabetes are more tend to suffer from eye disease (Gough, 2013). As per
studies, it has been found that 11% of the Australians with diabetes are suffering from eye
disease and it is high in type 2 diabetic patients. Risk factors associated are age, gender and
duration of diabetes, blood glucose level and cholesterol. It is not clear that an eye disease called

Diabetes 4
glaucoma is seen in diabetic patients twice as it is seen in non-diabetic patients. Diabetes also
leads to a severe eye disease called cataract which can result in loss of vision (Dunbar, 2017). As
per one of the Australian study, it is recommended that people who are suffering from diabetes
must get their eye checkups done twice in a year. Kidney disease is most commonly associated
with diabetes. It has been identified that around 15% of the Australian population suffering from
diabetes shows some evidence of kidney malfunctioning. It can lead to severe results of a kidney
transplant due to failure (Gough, 2013). A drastic increase in numbers has been observed since
1980 of the cases of kidney failures in Australia.
Diabetes a threat- needs action
Australia, unlike many other countries, is facing a severe rise in numbers of diabetic cases.
Within a span of 20 years more than 3 million people have suffered from diabetes. This rise has
also created health issues among Australians, cardiovascular attacks, kidney failures, eye
problem, and joint pains are some of the common symptoms arising from diabetes (Hutton et al.,
2015). According to few studies, death due to cardiovascular attacks has seen a decrease.
However, this trend may reverse due to rising prevalence of diabetes and obesity as
cardiovascular is associated with diabetes and the consequence of this will be faced by children
as they will be the first for many centuries to have a shorter life expectancy as compared to their
parents and grandparents (Hutton et al., 2015). The current scenario in Australia says that almost
in every family one person is suffering from diabetes especially older adults of the family. Type
2 diabetes is seen in younger adults and it is affecting their personal and social life creating an
economic burden on the family. $6billion annually is the economic cost which Australians
spend on diabetes which is a much higher amount. A further rise in the diabetic patients will

Diabetes 5
subsequently add to the budget leading to early detection and improved management of the
disease. Many studies show that it is most common in the age group from 25 to 35 years (Hutton
et al., 2015). There is no cure for diabetes so it is very challenging for the person and his family
to cope up with the situation. Living a life with diabetes creates a lot of physical problems
affecting both personal and professional life and sometimes even requires additional help from
family and friends.
Australian diabetes policy
The federal government declared diabetes as a national health priority in the year 2008and also
created the national preventative health taskforce. Federal and state level government has
supported a variety of programs to monitor diabetes and to implement various policies to control
diabetes. Despite this, the rise in a number of diabetic patients still continues and a lot more has
to be done (Burki, 2016). Keeping all this in mind a new and updated national policy has been
incorporated by the government, its main aim is to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, various
screening programs have been introduced to diagnose the undiagnosed diabetic patients and
provide a better access to all the multi-disciplinary treatments and terms required to phase the
complex challenge arising from type 1 and type 2 diabetes (Burki, 2016). The government has
also revised funding to run various research programs to identify the causes due to which
diabetes is becoming a major health issue. New researches are also being conducted to identify
new therapies and develop individual abilities to cope up with their own condition and to identify
the better ways of developing new practices which can be adopted on day to day activities
(Robert et al., 2016).

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Prevention always works primary prevention which means that the growth in type 2 diabetes can
be slowed down whereas secondary prevention means the impact on individual suffering from
diabetes, healthcare system and economy can be reduced. In order to achieve this on requires to
share information and adopts the best practices which are available in the market. In the year
2015 an initiative named changing diabetes barometer has been introduced, this program focus
on improving the life of diabetic patients and reducing the cost associated with it. This aim can
be achieved by collecting and sharing the important information on the size and burden of
diabetes and analysing the effectiveness of interventions taken to control the disease (Robert et
al., 2016). In all, it is a call to share, measure and improves. This means that data collected to
analyses the impact of various efforts taken to reduce diabetes, diagnosing the diseases at the
earliest and teat it effectively and finally reducing the complications arising from diabetes
(Depczynski, Wong, Russell & Opie, 2011). The changing diabetes barometer collects various
success stories from the people and inspires others to adopt these best practices to reduce the
effect of diabetes. The Australian government is sharing the collected data internationally with
the federations so that collective measures can be taken to improve the situation (Dunbar, 2017).
A five year strategy plan has been introduced by austral in government from 2015-2020, few
goals have been defined basis which the government will work:
 Preventing people from developing type 2 diabetes- it is the most common type of
diabetes hitch is seen in Australian youth and children and sometietimes it is not even
diagnosed until the complications arise. Under this strategy, the government has focused
on reducing the number of people who are being affected by this type by organizing
various awareness camps in which people are being educated on taking corrective
measures and precautions (Dunbar, 2017).

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 Promoting awareness and focusing on earlier detection of type 1 and type 2 diabetes -
The high prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes and the increasing risk of diabetes and
cardiovascular disease emphasize socio economic burden so it is very important to detect
it the early stage. Various studies have shown that there is no permanent cure for this
disease (The Lancet, 2011).
 Reducing the repetition of complications arising from diabetes and improving the quality
of life among diabetic patients- this goal is achieved with the help of healthcare
practitioners who can educate and inspire their diabetic patients to improve the lifestyle
by adopting a healthy diet, exercising regularly, reducing the time gap between meals and
taking proper medications (Pieris-Caldwell, Moon and Templeton, 2008).
 Reducing the impact of gestational and pre-existing diabetes among pregnant women- it
the major area of concern as the diabetes increase risk for both mother and her child and
the risk of death of infant increases four times high in this case. So I am very much
important for the pregnant women having pre-existing diabetes to take corrective
measures before conception (Hamilton & Naughton, 2013). There are various pre
pregnancy programs organized by healthcare organizations in which women are being
educated on taking measures to control diabetes before conception so that it cannot affect
the fetus (Davis et al., 2016).
 Reducing the impact of diabetes in aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people- this
community is amongst one them who have the highest number of diabetic patients and
has implications both nationally and internationally. A major step has been taken by the
Australian government to deal with this community (Engel & Cummins, 2011). They
have arranged a community wide culturally relevant awareness program in which people

Diabetes 8
will be educated in an appropriate manner by translating the relevant information and
material (Davis et al., 2016).
 Reducing the effect of diabetes between other priority groups- it focuses mainly on older
adults who ad suffering from diabetes. As they are more prone to complications due
week immune system. Other groups like younger adults who are working professionals
are also the main concern as they are more tend to have mental health issues because
diabetes is affecting their health due to which their personal and professional life is
impacting resulting in stress and anxiety (Lazzarini et al., 2013).
 Strengthen the care and prevention through research, data, and evidence- the government
is working on collecting the data for diabetic patients so that accordingly preventive
measures can be taken and policies can be made (Goldstein et al., 2015).
Conclusion
Diabetes is one of the major challenges which are being faced by the Australian government.
Many policies and programs have been made in order to reduce the number of cases by creating
the awareness mug the people. It is affecting the economy very badly and is also creating panic
among families of diabetic patients. New interventions are needed by the government and it
should be ensured that these benefits are available to all these who are being impacted with this
(Twigg, 2016). Adopting a healthy lifestyle is very much important to the people suffering from
type 2 diabetes but a substantial progress in this read will only occur within the guidelines set by
government and with the support of society. Few people do not consider diabetes important
because it does not lead to death unless and until it is accompanied by some other disease
(Dussart, 2009). The high prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes and the increasing risk of diabetes

Diabetes 9
and cardiovascular disease emphasize socio economic burden so it is very important to detect it
the early stage (Twigg, 2016). Various studies have shown that there is no permanent cure for
this disease; the government has released funds in order to conduct various researches for finding
the ways by adopting which diabetes can be cured of a lifetime (Twigg, 2016).
People outlook must also be changed in order to reduce the risk factors because people think
that it does not harm our body so much, so have a tendency to take it for granted. This can be
achieved with the help of healthcare practitioners who can educate and inspire their diabetic
patients to improve the lifestyle by adopting a healthy diet, exercising regularly, reducing the
time gap between meals and taking proper medications (Dunbar, 2017). Increasing number of
diabetic patients is a major concern for the Australian government and it is high time that they
should focus more and more on reducing these numbers (McGill, 2016). Although the
government has taken many corrective measures to control the situation they are not enough.

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