Our 2023 Impact - Lung Foundation Australia

To everyone who provided their support to Lung Foundation Australia during the fiscal year 2023, we extend our heartfelt gratitude. Your contributions, whether through allocated funds for our programs, personal donations, or the valuable hours you devoted to supporting our services; have made a profound and tangible difference in the lives of Australians living with lung disease and lung cancer. Read below some of the outcomes that we were able to achieve throughout the year, thanks to your unwavering assistance.

It’s been a transformative year for Lung Foundation Australia, as we focused on refining and expanding our valuable resources and programs for the 1-in-3 Australians facing lung disease. Five years of tireless advocacy led to the announcement of a national lung cancer screening program, and an incredibly generous $8 million donation boosted research for pulmonary diseases. Emerging lung health issues including air quality, vaping and long COVID remained in focus. We’re excited about the results of our Specialist Lung Cancer Nursing pilot program and have significantly expanded our occupational lung disease efforts with new services to support workers impacted by silicosis, supported by government funding. And the launch of our Lung Learning Hub is showcasing the best in lung health education to health care professionals.

View Impact Report

Your impact – the power of giving

Lung Foundation Australia couldn’t exist doing the work we do without the incredible support we receive from the community through fundraising of all different sorts, and we are grateful for every dollar.

Whether it’s through regular pledges, community giving, bequests in estates or any of the myriad of ways people give, Lung Foundation Australia can fund life-changing research.

Giving just a little, whatever you can, to an organisation like Lung Foundation Australia might make all the difference between a death sentence and a happy, full life for so many people.

Bonnie Boezeman, AO DSG, lives with bronchiectasis, Lung Foundation Australia Supporter.

Supporting patients and carers to live their best lives

4,724

health-related enquiries to Information and Support Centre.

1,366

telephone-based appointments with a nurse or social worker.

1,839,051

people connected with resources, support services and programs through our website.

consumer advisory committees shaping the work we do.

Providing expert support and guidance

This year we added vital Silicosis Support Services to our existing offering of online, face-to-face and telephone-based services. These services provide life-changing support to thousands of people living with lung conditions and carers every year who might otherwise be left to walk the path alone.

35 information resources developed for patients

792 people connected with our in-house telephone nurse and social worker services

11 new Specialist Lung Cancer Nurses recruited across NSW, QLD and SA

10 new Lungs in Action programs

Silicosis support services

"Someone who can support and talk things through with you and knows what emotions you are going through - that’s invaluable, both to me and to my family."
- Josh (pictured), living with silicosis

Driving policy reform in lung health

As Australia’s leading voice on lung health issues, we worked in partnership with our members, respiratory clinicians and other experts, to develop position statements, submissions, policy and budget proposals on matters affecting the lung health of Australians.

Lung health champions

We continue to expand our impact and raise the importance of protecting lung health. Our campaigning to raise awareness of early symptom awareness and diagnosis saw 105,260 community complete the Lung Health Checklist last year. More than 580 people reported that they saw their GP after taking the checklist with 161 saying they received a lung health diagnosis.

National Lung Cancer Screening Program

more than five years we have advocated for a program that would help address the inequity outcomes for Australia’s biggest cancer killer. We are thrilled that the National Lung Cancer Screening Program will soon be a reality as it will save over 12,000 lives in the next ten years.

COPD blueprint launch

We were proud to launch the first national blueprint for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Transforming the agenda for COPD: A path towards prevention and lifelong lung health. The report highlights the major public health issues and high prevalence of COPD in Australia and providing the government with urgent actions to drive significant and positive change.

Our fight against preventable disease

With the insidious rise of vaping, we are doubling our resolve to not let history repeat itself by allowing tobacco and vaping companies suck in another generation. We are proud to have contributed to the 2023-2030 National Tobacco Strategy, which includes a key plan to reduce Australia’s daily smoking rate to under 5 per cent by 2030– an ambitious target with the rate currently at 11 per cent.

Occupational lung disease

Lung Foundation Australia received $3.9 million in federal government funding this year to deliver more support for Australians living with, or at risk of, dust-related diseases. We were also appointed to facilitate the development of the National Silicosis Prevention Strategy 2023-2028 and accompanying National Action Plan to work toward eliminating this devastating disease.

Leading lung health professional development for primary care

Australia’s first competency-based education and training framework for health professionals launched online. The Lung Learning Hub provides users the opportunity to check their lung health knowledge and skills by completing a self-appraisal against the Lung Learning Framework and explore the collection of high-quality evidence-based training to meet their own individual learning needs. Our thanks and acknowledgement to consortium partners, The Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand and Asthma Australia, and several research and peak bodies.

This year, the Lung Learning Hub achieved:

education activities quality-assured and promoted via the Hub

training providers signed up

506

health professionals joined

Research grants and awards

This year, we invested almost $2.6 million in innovative research projects through funding grants across a broad range of lung disease areas. This research drives a deeper understanding of the causes, prevalence and impacts of lung disease, as well as new methods of diagnosis, treatments and care models to improve health outcomes and quality of life.

This funding has allowed me to establish a program of lung cancer research, as well as build research collaborations and branch out into qualitative research, including lung cancer rehabilitation. I am now a member on various lung cancer committees and advisory boards which allows me to contribute to the wider clinical and research field, but also facilitates collaborative work.

Hope Research Grant recipient Dr Venessa Chin, Garvan Institute of Medical Research

Thank you

To those who supported Lung Foundation Australia during FY2023, thank you. The funds you allocated to our programs, the personal donations you made, and the hours you contributed to supporting our services had a real and significant impact on the lives of Australians living with lung disease and lung cancer.

Read our full 2023 Impact Report

Read now

Please refer to the following link to access our previous Impact Reports.

View now