This month the diabetes community marks the first anniversary of the release of the Australian National Diabetes Strategy 2016-2020 – but there is little cause for celebration.

They are still waiting on a comprehensive implementation plan that was to be put together by the strategy’s Implementation Working Group, which comprises representatives of federal, state and territory governments reporting to the Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council.

Professor Stephen Colagiuri, Professor of Metabolic Health and Director of the Boden Institute and a member of the National Diabetes Strategy Advisory Group, said he was concerned about the time it was taking.

“It is a year since the strategy has been released and the lack of action in terms of releasing an implementation plan is disappointing,” he told the limbic.

His frustration is not new. Eight months ago he spoke to the limbic and voiced concerns that the new strategy could be heading down the same path as other diabetes strategies that have gone before it without success.

“A lot of work goes into writing these strategies and not much goes into the implementation,” he said then, adding that while it appeared there were some discussions taking place within the government about how to roll out the strategy, nothing was clear and there had been no effort to engage with diabetes experts.

“We are determined to try and do whatever we can to ensure that this doesn’t end up on the shelf with nothing happening to it,” he said.

And it seems nothing much has changed eight months on, although he says the diabetes community is determined to remain positive.

“We are expecting something, whether it’s a document or a workshop to announce the plan,” he said. “We are fairly much in the dark as to what is going on behind the scenes, but I’m hopeful that something will be produced in the very near future. We would have thought that this would have been more than enough of a time frame.”

As part of the World Diabetes Day on November 14, Diabetes Australia released a new State of the Nation report that documented policy and funding action by both the federal and state/territory governments to date.

Diabetes Australia CEO, Adjunct Professor Greg Johnson, said it was important to assess Australia’s progress in responding to the challenges of the diabetes epidemic.

“There have been some very important and positive steps taken by the federal government and some states but we are still waiting for a comprehensive implementation plan to be put together by the strategy’s Implementation Working Group which is comprised of representatives of federal, state and territory governments reporting to the Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council,” he said.

“Without a comprehensive implementation plan, and without clear responsibilities being developed for coordinated action, we risk the National Diabetes Strategy being another good plan that fails in the implementation.”

Professor Colagiuri said it was important all levels of Government implemented measures to help prevent the development of type 2 diabetes.

“The only way to halt the diabetes epidemic is to prevent people developing type 2 diabetes,” he  said.

“We know how to do this through modest lifestyle changes but we need definitive government leadership and action to improve the food and physical activity environment to help people make the necessary changes.”

Diabetes Australia President, Judi Moylan, co-chaired the Advisory Group that provided extensive input into the new national strategy.

“The Advisory Group never expected the entire strategy to be acted upon in the first year,” she said.

“Clearly, we need to see continued action with new policies, new programs and new funding applied each year over the five year strategy – and we encourage the intergovernmental working group formed by AHMAC to release a comprehensive plan for getting on with coordinated action over the remaining years of the strategy.”

Professor Colagiuri said he and the diabetes community were realistic about the governments’ budgetary constraints, and were not expecting to see every goal or priority of the strategy taken up, but it was an important document that needed to be implemented.

“It could well end up being something that sits on a shelf gathering dust like all the other strategies, but hopefully that won’t happen,” he said.