A new action plan to tackle kidney disease

The Morrison Government has launched the National Strategic Action Plan for Kidney Disease and awarded $3.5 million in funding to organisations to take immediate action.

1.7 million Australian adults are estimated to have chronic kidney disease, however less than 10 per cent are aware they have the condition.

In 2017, 17,000 Australians lost their lives to kidney disease and 1.8 million hospitalisations occurred. Early diagnosis and management can change the course of chronic kidney disease, a disease that is often detected too late to be reversible.

Developed by Kidney Health Australia (KHA), the plan provides a blueprint for transforming kidney disease in Australia over the next 10 years through three priority areas:

• prevention, detection and education
• optimal care and support
• research and data

The Government is providing $1.25 million to Kidney Health Australia over four years, to develop a new digital platform to underpin improved awareness and support for the public and the kidney disease sector.

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This will assist the implementation of a number of recommendations identified in the action plan, help build awareness of the disease, and develop services and support for people living with kidney disease and their carers.

This is in addition to the $800,000 investment our Government has provided to Kidney Health Australia, to deliver a national peer support and education program for 500 young people aged 15 to 24 with advanced kidney disease who have received a kidney transplant.

The Government is also committing a further $2.25 million to implement a range of activities under the action plan. Shortlisted recipients include:

• KidGen, led by the University of Queensland
• Flinders University
• The Menzies School of Health Research
• The South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute

Last month Pharmacor Cinacalcet was listed on the PBS – a medicine that, without the subsidy, would see patients pay more than $700 per year. It is indicated for the treatment of secondary hyperparathyroidism in patients with end stage renal disease, receiving dialysis.

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