Dana Wortley (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I, and also on behalf of Senator Barnett, move:

That the Senate—

(a)

notes that:

(i)

on 20 December 2006, a landmark decision was made by the United Nations General Assembly to adopt Resolution 61/225,

(ii)

the resolution recognised the risks that diabetes and its complications pose to families, member states and world health and was adopted by consensus,

(iii)

the resolution declared 14 November as World Diabetes Day,

(iv)

this resolution joins HIV/AIDS and autism as the only other diseases having its own resolution and declared day of observation,

(v)

an estimated 246 million people aged between 20 and 79 worldwide have diabetes and this number is expected to grow by 44 per cent reaching 380 million by 2025,

(vi)

each year 3.8 million adults die from diabetes-related illnesses, representing one death every 10 seconds,

(vii)

an estimated 7.4 per cent of the Australian population has diabetes, according to the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle (AusDiab) study in 2000, and

(viii)

according to an AusDiab study the social and medical costs in Australia were estimated in 2002 to total $6 billion annually;

(b)

acknowledges the work of Professor Martin Silink, AM, MD, FRACP, as President of the International Diabetes Federation and his colleagues worldwide for their work to ensure that this united resolution was carried;

(c)

recognises that:

(i)

in the catalogue of chronic illness few conditions would be more needful of attention than the scourge of diabetes,

(ii)

the prevention and management of diabetes are the responsibility of the whole of society,

(iii)

parliaments should play a leading role in promoting community education and implementing effective policies and health care for sufferers of this worldwide scourge,

(iv)

left undiagnosed and untreated, diabetes dramatically affects quality of life and shortens lifespan and its malevolent course inevitably leads to many serious associated health complications, including heart disease, stroke, renal failure, limb amputation and blindness, and

(v)

unless national governments act to deliver comprehensive policies, the implications for health budgets will be calamitous; and

(d)

calls on the Government to:

(i)

continue to make diabetes a national health priority,

(ii)

commission a report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare into the health costs of diabetes,

(iii)

adequately fund best-practice medicine for the treatment of diabetes, and

(iv)

continue to promote healthy lifestyle programs, especially targeted to children and young people.

Question agreed to.