APodA signs on to Juvenile Arthritis Foundation Australia’s consensus statement
28 Nov 2024
Following on from productive engagement earlier this year, the Juvenile Arthritis Foundation Australia (JAFA) invited the APodA to review and support a consensus statement that supports the reduction of delays focused on diagnosing juvenile arthritis.
Signed by 15 leading health organisations, the consensus statement supports the goal of JAFA and the Australian Paediatric Rheumatology Group (APRG) to reduce the current dangerous delays in the diagnosis of juvenile arthritis from 10 months to 10 weeks by 2030.
This shift is set to transform the lives of thousands of Australian children who have undiagnosed juvenile arthritis now, or who may develop it in the future.
The APodA's Australian Paediatric Podiatry (APP) Special Interest Group (SIG) group were approached to provide guidance on this decision. The APP SIG was influential in helping arrive at the overall recommendation and were instrumental in ensuring the APodA signed on as a supporter.
This approach highlights the impact of APodA's SIG groups and how they work to create rigour in our approach to advocating in a considered and appropriate way.
As a collaborative peak, the APodA welcomes opportunities for mutual policy and advocacy activities that can affect tangible change in communities to improve health and overall wellbeing outcomes.