By Melissa Meehan
One in 10 infants have a food allergy and food induced anaphylaxis has doubled over the past 10 years, but Australian children are being forced to wait up to two years to see a specialist.
Allergy rates in children are increasing, and despite this parents are struggling to get their children’s allergies assessed in the public system.
At least a 12-month wait is not uncommon for a food challenge test at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital, leaving many parents to visit expensive private practitioners.
To address this problem, the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia, the leading medical and patient organisations for allergy in Australia, developed a National Allergy Strategy in collaboration with other key stakeholder organisations.
The federal government recently announced five years of funding for the implementation of the strategy.
Projects include development of standardised food allergy content to be included in all accredited food hygiene courses, and the development of online resources for teens and young adults with allergies to share their experiences.
Another project will determine how to improve access to care for people with allergic conditions, particularly those in rural and remote areas.
“Sadly, there have been many near misses and preventable deaths related to food and drug allergy,” immunologist and Associate Professor Richard Loh said.
“Just recently a young girl lost her life due to an allergic reaction to dairy. We need to learn from these tragic events and implement processes to prevent them from occurring again.”
Allergies affect about 20 percent of the Australian population.
About 4.5 million Australians are affected by hay fever and allergic rhinitis, while one in 20 Australian children and one in 50 adults has a food allergy.
Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia CEO Maria Said wants people with food allergies to have an improved quality of life and do the things most people take for granted, with reduced risk.
“Teens and young adults are at the highest risk of fatal, food-triggered anaphylactic reactions out of any age group,” Ms Said commented.
Allergy facts:
– Allergic diseases are among the fastest growing chronic conditions in Australia, affecting approximately 1 in 5 Australians
– Hospital admissions for anaphylaxis (severe, life threatening allergic reactions) have increased five-fold in the last 20 years
– Deaths from anaphylaxis have increased by 7% per year for the last seven years
– Introducing peanut between 4-11 months of age can reduce peanut allergy in high risk infants by 80%
– Delayed access to medical care and long waiting times for management of allergic diseases in all areas (rural, remote and metropolitan) is a major problem, due to the high number of diagnosed patients, newly diagnosed patients and low number of appropriately trained health care professionals
