We often describe diabetes as the single biggest challenge confronting Australia’s health system and new data released this week by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare confirms it.

The data shows the Australian health system spends almost $2.5 billion a year on all types of diabetes. On top of that diabetes is a leading cause of several other costly conditions including heart disease ($2 billion per annum), chronic kidney disease ($1.7 billion per annum) and stroke ($660 million per annum).

When you add it all together these four conditions cost the Australian healthcare system $6.86 billion every single year. That’s on top of the devastating personal cost.  

This is clearly unsustainable, but the good news is there are things we can do about it.

We need smart spending and smart policy to get better outcomes for people with diabetes and reduce the strain on our health system. This means investing early in preventing diabetes-related complications and preventing people from developing type 2 diabetes.

Diabetes Australia is working with the best minds in Australia’s diabetes community, and we know there are modest investments that could pay massive dividends.

That’s why this Federal Election we are asking all sides of politics to commit to a number of priority actions including improving access to diabetes technology, better early detection of all types of diabetes, preventing diabetes-related complications and reducing the impact of diabetes in First Nations communities.

All of these would deliver huge savings for the Australia economy.