We typically reserve the term “epidemic” for outbreaks of infectious disease—something contagious and acute. The real epidemic of our time isn’t viral at all – it is chronic.
The rates of chronic disease are rising everywhere. Diabetes, cancer, dementia, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative conditions are becoming not only more common—but they’re showing up earlier, with patients diagnosed at younger and younger ages.
According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), around 47% of Australians have at least one chronic condition, with many experiencing two or more. These diseases are now responsible for more than 9 in every 10 deaths in Australia. And the trends are not improving. Between 2000 and 2020, the prevalence of Type 2 diabetes more than doubled, and dementia has become the second leading cause of death, surpassing strokes and even lung cancer.
The situation with obesity is even more striking. More than two-thirds (67%) of Australian adults are overweight or obese, a figure that has been climbing steadily for decades. Worryingly, childhood obesity is also on the rise, with 1 in 4 children aged 5–17 now classified as overweight or obese [AIHW, 2023]. This is important, because obesity is a key driver in the emergence of many other chronic diseases.
This cannot be brushed off as a side effect of an aging population. We are witnessing younger individuals—some in their 30s—being diagnosed with conditions previously associated with late adulthood. Infertility rates are surging. Testosterone levels in men are declining globally, with research from the U.S. showing a 1% annual decline since the 1980s, a trend echoed in Australia. At the same time, diagnoses of ADHD, autism, and other neurodivergent conditions are increasing rapidly among children and adolescents. Allergies, autoimmune diseases, and previously unheard-of conditions like eosinophilic oesophagitis are becoming disturbingly common. Extrapolating these trends leads to some very alarming conclusions.
Despite this health landscape, governments and public health agencies continue to pour trillions of dollars annually into healthcare—largely into the management of disease, not its prevention or cure. They invest time and effort in tightening regulatory oversight – but no where are the causes of this epidemic addressed or even contemplated The result? The epidemic continues unabated.
The current paradigm, which prioritises chronic medical management, is failing to halt the rise of disease. Worse still, it may be normalising illness as an inevitable part of life. Some experts argue that the focus on managing chronic disease has pushed prevention into the background and made the concept of cure feel almost taboo.
But people don’t want endless prescriptions, side-effect balancing acts, or lifelong appointments. People want to feel better. They want to reduce their risk of disease. If they get sick, they want to get well. Chronic medication management should be a last resort, not the system’s default.
We need a radical shift. We need to face the failure of the current paradigm. There is no lack of emerging therapies that can prioritises prevention, reversal, and regeneration over the mere lifetime symptom suppression. A system that invests in metabolic health, environmental health, mental health, and the social determinants that underpin real wellbeing.
The chronic disease epidemic isn’t just a medical issue—it’s a cultural, economic, and systemic failure. And if we want to change the outcome, we must first admit that the current approach is not working.
