Diabetes Australia has welcomed suggestions from the Parliamentary Inquiry into Diabetes that may assist arrest the diabetes epidemic in Australia.
Twenty-three key suggestions are included within the complete report tabled at the moment by the Well being, Aged Care and Sport Committee following its landmark Inquiry into Diabetes.
Talking from Parliament Home in Canberra, Diabetes Australia Group CEO Justine Cain mentioned after a long time of requires extra diabetes prevention measures together with meals labelling and a levy on sugary drinks, these have been welcome suggestions.
“The Parliamentary Inquiry into diabetes has shone a lightweight on Australia’s diabetes epidemic,” Ms Cain mentioned.
“This report features a complete bundle of measures that may actually make a distinction, and we have to see them applied collectively. There isn’t any single answer; we want robust motion on all fronts.
“For a few years Diabetes Australia has strongly advocated for prevention, care and analysis measures like these beneficial on this report.
“Funding in entry to wholesome meals; a levy on sugary drinks; and a ban on junk meals promoting to kids, are all points now we have lengthy been calling for, and we’re happy that the Committee has responded to these calls.
“Diabetes Australia additionally helps the advice for complete financial evaluation to be undertaken in regards to the direct and oblique price of diabetes,” Ms Cain mentioned.
The Committee included suggestions concerning increasing subsidised entry to insulin pumps for folks residing with sort 1 diabetes, in addition to steady glucose monitoring (CGM) units for folks residing with sort 2 and kind 3c diabetes requiring common insulin, and other people with gestational diabetes.
“Diabetes applied sciences change folks’s lives and that’s why now we have been calling for the federal government to spend money on equitable entry to them,” Ms Cain mentioned.
“The committee’s suggestions about entry to know-how are critically essential.
“We want to see insulin pumps subsidised for all folks residing with sort 1 diabetes, and we’ll be partaking with authorities about how to do this in a staged, inexpensive method.
“Likewise, now we have been calling for subsidised entry to CGM for folks residing with sort 2 diabetes, significantly folks utilizing insulin and different susceptible teams reminiscent of pregnant ladies, folks beneath 21, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander folks,” Ms Cain mentioned.
With an estimated 2 million Australians residing with every type with diabetes, the committee’s suggestions will present a roadmap to handle diabetes prevention and administration.
Different committee suggestions that have been advocated for by Diabetes Australia and are strongly supported embrace:
- Elevated funding for diabetes analysis;
- Workforce investments together with expanded MBS subsidies, gadgets numbers for allied well being consultations, and entry to diabetes educators;
- Meals labelling reforms that concentrate on added sugar;
- Public well being campaigns;
- Nationwide diabetes screening applications;
- Guaranteeing that the revised Australian Dietary Pointers embrace clear recommendation for Australians residing with diabetes.
“We have to act decisively and collectively. The time for daring motion is now,” Ms Cain mentioned.
“We sit up for working with the federal government because it responds to the Committee’s suggestions.”
In regards to the Parliamentary Committee’s Diabetes Inquiry:
The Parliamentary Committee was tasked with inspecting points associated to diabetes prevention, remedy, and administration in Australia. Comprising bipartisan members of Parliament and supported by professional advisors, the committee, chaired by Dr Mike Freelander MP, examined the present panorama of diabetes prevention, remedy, and administration.
The inquiry was referred by the Hon Mark Butler MP, Minister for Well being and Aged Care, in Might 2023, and acquired proof from folks residing with diabetes, advocacy teams, healthcare professionals, and researchers.
Greater than 450 submissions have been acquired by the committee.
Diabetes Australia, together with Australian Diabetes Society and Australian Diabetes Educators Affiliation, gave proof on the Inquiry’s public hearings and made 4 joint submissions:
