August 2012 News

Kidney Health Australia is sharing the stories of several fathers who have had or are currently affected by kidney disease, in the lead up to the fundraising and awareness-raising event the BIG RED WALK.

The BIG RED WALK will take place this Father's Day on Sunday September 2, where families are encouraged to register and come along with dad to support the cause.

One of the father's sharing their story was Wayne McGlone from Victoria, who has been waiting four and a half years for a kidney transplant.

A warning has been issued by NSW Health for the gastroenteritis epidemic that is currently sweeping the state, where more than 3,500 people have been to emergency departments in the past two weeks.

A number of cases involve primary school aged children who have been admitted to emergency departments for vomiting and diarrhoea.

People in nursing homes and child care centres have also been affected with 87 gastro cases confirmed in the last month - close to doubling the 48 outbreaks from August 2011.

Health insurer nib stated in their directors report that capital management was a 'key focus' during the year as they seeked to balance the goals of optimising capital and holding onto funds for 'funding potential investments via mergers and acquisitions'.

The full year results for the financial year ending 30 June 2012 were announced on Monday August 20, where they performed well in underwriting profitability and active capital management.

The Australian Melanoma Genome Project - dedicated to identifying effective treatments for patients based on the genetic characteristics of individual melanomas - was launched by the minister for health and minister for medical research Jillian Skinner on August 24.

The NSW government has committed $500,000 toward the $5.5 million dollar initiative, which was put together by the Melanoma Institute Australia to "encourage greater knowledge and understanding about treatment of the disease".