Australia losing the battle on kidney disease
Kidney Health Australia has warned that Australia is losing the kidney
disease battle, with deaths from kidney failure having doubled in the
past 20 years.
Speaking at the launch of Kidney Health Week,which has the slogan ‘No
Warning Signs’ Anne Wilson, chief executive officer of Kidney Health Australia said: “kidney failure is the seventh most frequent cause of death in Australia and exceeds road deaths, suicide and breast cancer in number. Over 40 people die each and every day from kidney failure in Australia.”
While kidney disease has doubled over the past two decades, death rates from almost all other chronic conditions are falling substantially.
“Twenty five percent of all patients coming onto dialysis and transplantation do not see a kidney specialist until less than 90 days before dialysis starts, which is a clear indication of the need for a national awareness campaign on understanding and recognising the early causes of kidney disease,”Anne Wilson said.
On average, six new patients are accepted onto the Australian dialysis
program each day, the cost of treating a patient with dialysis is
$72,000 per annum, and the number of patients on dialysis is increasing
at 6% per annum. Australia’s health bill for treating kidney disease is
growing at $1 million a week.
