In 2024, JAFA’s fifth year, with the help of its supporters, collaborators, constituents and volunteers, JAFA added several ‘runs on the board’ taking awareness of JIA and CRDs to new levels; making significant progress on its Strategic Priorities; and engaging multi-stakeholders in achieving tangible improvements to the lives of young Australians with these diseases. See the report here for the highlights of 2024.

Juvenile Arthritis Week (JAW) celebrates the courage and resilience of the estimated up to 30,000 children and young people with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and other childhood rheumatic diseases (CRD’s) in Australia.

Join with us to grow awareness, recognition and bring attention to JIA and CRD’s by participating in JAW activities including family hangouts; “Step Together with JAFA” our virtual fundraiser and spreading the word.

Together we can change lives through early diagnosis and early intervention of this painful and debilitating chronic condition.

This March JAFA is excited to launch it’s inaugural virtual fundraiser – Step Together with JAFA.

Gather your friends, family, school mates, work colleagues and supporters and join together to raise funds for JAFA. Step your way – big steps, little steps, walk, run, dance!

You choose how many steps you want to do either yourself or with your team. Step Together with JAFA coincides with Juvenile Arthritis Week 16 -23 March 2025.

Let’s all get stepping in March.

JAFA’s federally funded, national early diagnosis campaign is in full swing. The campaign is targeting GPs and other frontline health professionals to reduce critical delays in the diagnosis of juvenile arthritis and increase early access to effective treatment in order to reduce pain and avoid long-term joint and eye damage. You can help by giving your GP and pharmacist a hard copy of the pictured diagnosis ‘postcard’. To obtain postcards, please contact: edx@jafa.org.au and provide your postal address.

JAFA is proud to present My JIA, the ‘must have’ handbook for older children and parents, in three new languages: Mandarin, Vietnamese and Arabic.

These three new booklets complement the original English version which released in Australia by JAFA on World Arthritis Day 2023.

My JIA is a user-friendly guide to understanding what JIA is, how it is diagnosed and treated by health professionals including blood tests and medications. It also provides handy tips on managing JIA at home and at school

JAFA welcomes the support of frontline peak bodies and allied health organisations in its campaign to reduce delays in the diagnosis of juvenile arthritis from 10 months to 10 weeks which is set to change the lives of thousands of Australian children who have undiagnosed juvenile arthritis now – or who will develop it in the future.

15 organisations including the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Pharmacy Guild, the Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association and Medicines Australia have committed to the Consensus Statement which is a product of JAFA’s federally funded national early diagnosis program and a joint goal of JAFA and the Australian Paediatric Rheumatology Group.

JAFA is delighted to present this report on the results from the first 300 registrants in the Australian Juvenile Arthritis Registry (AJAR). AJAR is three-way partnership between JAFA, the Australian Paediatric Rheumatology Group and the Australian Arthritis Autoimmune BioBank Collaborative. AJAR was established in 2023 to support research and health policy, planning and funding. Since the March 2024 cut-off for the report, 80 more 0-24yrs old with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) or a related childhood rheumatic disease (CRD) have joined the registry and we are aiming for 500 by the end of June and 1,000 by the end of 2024.  

Click on the button below to read the Report and, if you are eligible but haven’t yet registered, you can find out more and by clicking Register.  It’s easy, it’s quick, it’s anonymous and it’s already making a difference. 

JAFA is proud to present the results of its landmark ‘IMPACT Study’ which detail the previously hidden physical, mental, emotional and financial burden of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and childhood rheumatic diseases (CRDs) on affected 0-25yr olds and their families and carers.

The IMPACT Study was conducted in 2023 via a national survey and provides the first comprehensive analysis of the personal and financial costs of these diseases. This study represents another milestone in the history of JIA and related CRDs in Australia.