Why early diagnosis and early intervention?
- 11 months to diagnosis is too long
- 85% living in pain is too high
- 12% missed school is too much
- $28,000 per year per child is too costly
“Juvenile Arthritis: Early Diagnosis - Early Intervention Changing Children’s Lives”
Is a first-of-its-kind investment, signalling Australia’s commitment
to changing the lives of children with undiagnosed juvenile arthritis (JA)
- The first major federal government investment in a nationwide program to shorten unacceptable delays in diagnosing juvenile arthritis – a painful, incurable and debilitating childhood autoimmune disease affecting up to 10,000 Australian children.
- The average of 10-11 months to diagnose JA hasn’t changed in almost 25 years. Reducing this would open a crucial window of opportunity for young Australians and their families to access the urgent specialist care needed to treat debilitating daily pain and prevent and permanent joint deformities and loss of vision.
- The program will support GPs and other health professionals to identify this common but under-recognised disease when children first present with symptoms.
