Ministers from both sides of government came together this morning in a rare moment of unity ahead of World Osteoporosis Day tomorrow (Friday, 20 October).
The bipartisan roundtable took place at Parliament House to review the impact of osteoporosis in Australia and look at better strategies for preventing so many fractures.
Liberal MP Ken Wyatt, Minister for Aged Care, and Labor’s Julie Collins, Shadow Minister for Aging were joined by a whole raft of representatives from patient, medical and government organisations.
And the reason for this? Australians sustain 160,000 broken bones on average each year, which costs the nation a whopping $3.1 billion!
You can add to that the fact that 66 per cent of the population aged over 50 is estimated to have poor bone health and you can see what a huge problem we have on our hands.
We’ve written before plenty of times on LIV about the importance of looking after your bone health with daily physical activity and plenty of calcium and vitamin D, so we’re pleased to see this area being taken seriously by MPs.
According to the CEO of Osteoporosis Australia, Greg Lyubomirsky, too many Australians are unnecessarily breaking bones and this is negatively impacting the individual, their family and, of course, the healthcare system.
“We cannot allow so many Australians to be affected by broken bones. We must take action to prevent fractures. This bi-partisan Federal Ministerial Roundtable is a very positive and welcome step in our call for action.”
Deputy Chair of the Osteoporosis Australia Medical Committee, Professor Mark Cooper, highlighted the importance of testing for the disease when people are seen in hospital with a fracture.
“We have patients leaving hospitals after sustaining a fracture who are not routinely investigated for osteoporosis. We also have members of our community living with osteoporosis risk factors, who are not having a bone mineral density test. This must change so that we can prevent fractures.”
World Osteoporosis Day ambassadors Kerri-Anne Kennerley and Cathy Freeman have also lent their support to the awareness campaign and have been using their persuasive powers to invite Federal MPs and Senators to wear a Know Your Bones pin in Parliament today.
We’ll be keeping an eye out to see how many of them do!
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