Kidney Disease kills 41 Aussies each Day

I was reading the paper today and come across this article.

Kidney disease doubles

By Clair Weaver

May 27, 2007 12:00

Article from: The Daily Telegrpah

KIDNEY disease has quietly become Australia's "silent killer", with a new victim dying every 35 minutes.
Latest figures reveal the death toll from kidney failure has doubled over the past 20 years and now surpasses breast cancer, road accidents, suicide and diabetes.
Experts say up to two million Australians are in the early stages of kidney disease without realising it and a third of the population is at risk.
While survival of most chronic illnesses is improving, kidney disease is worsening and the national health bill for dialysis is rising by $1 million a week.
Health professionals will today make a desperate plea to the federal Government for a national strategy to tackle the disease, which often shows no symptoms until it is too late.
Despite accounting for 12 per cent of all deaths - or 41 people a day, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics - it is not classified as a national health priority.
In a letter to all federal MPs, Kidney Health Australia CEO Anne Wilson said there was "not one government dollar'' spent on prevention, early detection or raising awareness.
She told The Sunday Telegraph that GPs and the public alike needed to be educated to improve detection of kidney disease.
"It's a silent killer,'' she said.
"It's as insidious as cancer - it just creeps up on you and the next thing you know you are on dialysis or you are dead before you can go on it. There are all these people walking around with it.
"They could have done something about it if they just got diagnosed earlier.''
The 2007 national health bill for dialysis treatment is expected to be about $600 million _ but is forecast to blow out to $900 million by 2010, according to a financial report by the George Institute of International Health.
General awareness of kidney disease is low, as there are no public-health campaigns and symptoms often don't appear until the last minute.
It often occurs alongside other lifestyle-related illnesses, such as heart disease and diabetes.
Health Minister Tony Abbott will tomorrow launch a No Warning Signs public-awareness campaign in Canberra to coincide with Kidney Health Week.
Sydneysider Mark Egan, 56, was diagnosed with severe kidney disease after complaining to his GP of leg cramps.
His 33-year-old daughter Rebecca has volunteered to donate a kidney to her father.