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Report of the Bone and Joint Decade National Action Network - Australia
May 2002The Australian National Action Network for the Bone and Joint Decade was established late in 2000 and I was asked to Chair the Committee. The Steering Committee of the National Action Network in Australia comprises representatives of the:
- ARA (President)
- AFA
- Osteoporosis Australia
- AOA (President)
- ANZ Bone and Mineral Society (President)
- Matrix Biology Society of Australia and NZ
- Rheumatology Health Professionals Association
The NAN has tried to work towards the four major aims of the Decade:
- To raise awareness of the growing burden of musculoskeletal disorders on society
- To promote prevention of musculoskeletal disorders and empower patients through education programs
- To advance research on prevention, diagnosis and treatment of musculoskeletal disorders
- To improve diagnosis and treatment of musculoskeletal disorders
Merck, Sharp and Dohme, Pfizer Pharmacia, Aventis Pharma, Amgen, Glaxo Smith Kline, Abbott and Boehringer Ingelheim have provided sponsorship thus far.
The NAN is not a major fund raising organisation merely a vehicle through which funds might be leveraged for the AFA, Osteoporosis Australia and other groups.
The Decade was launched by the Minister for Health and Aged Care (Dr Michael Wooldridge) on 27th April 2001. An educational afternoon was held plus a dinner in the evening at which Sir Gustav Nossal was the guest speaker. Feedback on the launch was positive and Victorian members of the ARA were extremely supportive particularly in attending the dinner.
State groups of the BJD NAN have been established and most are running reasonably effectively.
Maggie Crowe from the Rheumatology Health Professionals has been extraordinarily successful in Western Australia in bringing her group together and they are planning for a launch in Western Australia later this year. The South Australian group is organising a joint meeting with the Australian and New Zealand Bone and Mineral Society which is meeting in Adelaide later this year.
Laurie Clemens chairs the Victorian group and they are working on the development of a research meeting to be held some time in 2003. Given the focus of research, both clinical and basic, in Victoria this should be a very successful meeting.
Peter Ghosh has been very busy with OARSI but is organising Bone and Joint Decade activities around the OARSI meeting in September in Sydney. Peter Ghosh and Lyn March will then work on programs for 2003 and 2004. A BJD partnership's dinner was held in Sydney in October last year to coincide with the visit of Professor Lars Lidgren, Chairman of the International Steering Committee of the BJD. Although big business was not strongly represented at the dinner, the pharmaceutical companies and NSW ARA members were very supportive and the evening certainly generated local interest.
The Queensland group under Dr Peter Nash is planning a research day and a dinner to launch the Decade in Queensland later this year.
A meeting of the Australasian Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine will be held in Tasmania in 2003 and it is hoped that this might provide an opportunity for BJD activities in Tasmania.
All state groups have been proactive in lobbying State Departments of Health particularly in relation to having bone and joint disease added to the National Health Goals and Targets.
Lobbying by the Arthritis Foundation of Australia and the ARA was responsible for a promise of $11 million for education and exercise programs for arthritis sufferers and a commitment by the Coalition government prior to its election to put Bone and Joint Disease on the National Health Goals and Targets.
The Decade is continuing to lobby for this along with other groups but it will be very important that the State Health Departments are supportive of this as well.
A national Bone and Joint Surgery Summit - A Joint Approach, will be held in Canberra in October - November 2002. It will focus on the cost benefit of joint replacements and also emphasise the importance of reducing the need for these operations and other orthopaedic procedures such as pins and plates. We do need to present an emphasis on preventive measures such as early diagnosis of osteoporosis, adequate management of acute bone and joint trauma and early treatment of inflammatory arthritis.
Approaches have also been made to the NHMRC in relation to funding of musculoskeletal disease research and it is hoped that some of these initiatives might come to fruition - particularly if the National Health Goals and Targets "billing" is achieved.
I wish to thank all members of the ARA who are involved in these state committees and who have attended the various functions that the Decade has held.
The Bone and Joint Decade represents a unique opportunity to promote bone and joint diseases - we need to make the most of it and to work hard to fulfil all the aims of the Decade. Individual members of the ARA will have many opportunities of using the rubric of the BJD to promote musculoskeletal diseases at every level in the community - seize the chance.
Peter Brooks
Chairman, National Action Network, Bone and Joint Decade (Australia)
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