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Preventing diabetes in Australia’s populaton

Identifying and mitigating risks of diabetes in Australia

What is diabetes?

Diabetes is a disorder caused by the inability of the body to control the amount of sugar in the blood. If left untreated, diabetes can severely damage organs in the body. Diabetes is the epidemic of the 21st century and the biggest challenge confronting Australia’s health system.

  • 280 Australians develop diabetes every day. That’s one person every five minutes
  • Around 1.7 million Australians have diabetes. This includes all types of diagnosed diabetes (1.2 million known and registered) as well as silent, undiagnosed type 2 diabetes (up to 500,000 estimated)
  • More than 100,000 Australians have developed diabetes in the past year
  • For every person diagnosed with diabetes there is usually a family member or carer who also ‘lives with diabetes’ every day in a support role. This means that an estimated 2.4 million Australians are affected by diabetes every day
  • Total annual cost impact of diabetes in Australia estimated at $14.6 billion
Diabetes SA

Visit the Diabetes SA website for more information

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