An article in the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday stopped me in my tracks. It said that 2 million Australians have a rare disease. I have to confess that I had to confirm those statistics from an independent source. But yes, seems that 6-10 percent of the population can be classified as suffering from a disorder which often baffles, confuses and confounds modern medicine.
OMG - this is terrifying! The human and financial costs just don’t bear thinking about!
While the article was about one rare disease in particular and this in it’s most extreme form, it also served to highlight the level of frustration I feel when faced with a statistic like this. Because with preconception healthcare for both prospective parents, it’s possible to prevent a great many of these conditions! What we have here is an epidemic of conditions that are the legacy of several generations who have not had the benefits of two OPTIMALLY healthy germ cells at conception!
It’s a very simple equation, a story that can be easily told to school students (which I do), a program that can be easily run through community pharmacy (which I could do)!
What would it take for the Government (or the Opposition) to support this initiative in an election year? The information is currently in front of Ministers and Shadow Ministers and The Pharmacy Guild of Australia amongst others. We shall see ...
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