Diabetes Australia and Commonwealth Bank today announced a new partnership to help change the way Australia combats the most significant threat to the health and productivity of the nation in the 21st Century – diabetes.

Diabetes Australia CEO, Professor Greg Johnson said “This partnership is incredibly important to help us develop a much stronger approach to preventing and managing this serious epidemic. Importantly, the leadership of Commonwealth Bank is committed to this and over 34 of the best and brightest executives will be focused on helping us address the challenges of diabetes.â€

Commonwealth Bank’s spokesperson Vanessa Nolan-Woods said “We are very excited at the prospect of partnering with Diabetes Australia to enrich our workplace relations with a leading health organisation and take on the challenge facing the many Australians affected by diabetes.â€

“While financial help is important – we are also very excited about the potential of having Australia’s biggest bank devote some of its leadership, marketing expertise, and hopefully a big part of its 55,000 strong workforce – to have a much greater impact in reducing the burden of diabetes. Together we can help over 1.5 million families already affected by diabetes, and help reduce the increasing number of people developing type 2 diabetes†said Prof Johnson.

Around 280 Australians develop diabetes every day and over 1.7 million Australians currently have diabetes. This includes type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes and gestational diabetes. And the problem is likely to get much worse as 2 million Australians are at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the next 5-10 years.

“Diabetes is a serious and complex metabolic condition. The seriousness of diabetes is often under- estimated and all types of diabetes can lead to complications including heart attacks, strokes, kidney damage, blindness and amputations if not well managed†Prof Johnson said.