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LONDON: The elderly are benefiting from a multigenerational social initiative set up by one lonely individual.

The Croissant Run Club in Sydney isn’t necessarily about the baked goods or the exercise. It is tackling a big issue head on — loneliness.

Tara Gallagher started the club to meet people when she moved to Australia from the United Kingdom.

The words “life changing” were spoken by many runners on Saturday morning, when they meet in the city’s east for a 5km jog and end up at a cafe to chat.

“This is like my saving grace, and I know it’s so many other people’s here,” the 26-year-old said.

Most of the runners are in their 20s, lots of them are expats. Many have found it difficult to find their “tribe” after school and university, or having relocated.

Australians aged 18 to 24 are most affected by loneliness, according to the State of the Nation 2023 report by Ending Loneliness Together.

And one-third of Australians feel lonely some, or all of the time, which is up from one in four people feeling lonely prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s not about the run, it’s about the socialising … it’s about getting out of the phone and coming out and just seeing it in real life,” Ms Gallagher said.

“It’s just hard when you’re getting a bit older to make friends.”

Loneliness does not discriminate, people across all genders and ages experience it — both wealthy and poor.

It is slightly more common among those in regional and remote areas.

There is a growing push for the federal government to consider loneliness as a priority public health issue and to fund research and solutions accordingly.

It is now recognised by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the next public health priority, with a three-year-long commission into how solutions can be scaled up beginning this year.

While it is far from a new problem, the issue gained traction last year after the United States Surgeon General, Vivek H. Murthy, labelled it a “crisis” at “epidemic” levels in his country.

In her 60s, Janene McAnally is feeling more disconnected than ever after a lifetime of often feeling alone.

She became a single mother at 17, and later her husband died from brain cancer.

“I always tried to be a bit of a social person because I needed that to combat loneliness, or depression,” Ms McAnally said.

She has chronic back pain which can leave her house-bound at her Dubbo unit in western NSW.

“As my body started to fail me, I found that it was difficult for me to get out of the unit and so I could go three, four, five days and I’ll just be in the unit.”

Ending Loneliness Together CEO Michelle Lim said the Australian government must do more to fix it.

“Loneliness is a huge problem in the Australian community,” Dr Lim said.

Both the UK and Japan have appointed loneliness ministers designed to understand, resource and tackle the issue.

In Australia, the national network of organisations has been lobbying the federal government for years to follow suit, arguing it could reduce the risk of chronic diseases and mental health issues.

It said loneliness was estimated to cost the economy $2.7 billion per year.

“There’s many different things that they can do, which includes looking at policies that govern the way we live, work and play and also funding a peak body that can actually harness collaboration across all sectors to address loneliness within those sectors,” Dr Lim said.

“What we have found is a robust set of evidence that says that when we do feel lonely we’re more likely to experience poor health.”

According to the Ending Loneliness Together report, Australians who feel lonely are:

4 times more likely to have chronic disease
4.6 times more likely to have depression
4.1 times more likely to have social anxiety
5.2 times more likely to have poorer wellbeing

It’s not about being alone — that is social isolation.

Instead, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare considers loneliness as a “subjective unpleasant or distressing feeling of a lack of connection to other people, along with a desire for more, or more satisfying, social relationships”.

That explains why mother-of-four, Leah Wiseman, can feel lonely while almost never getting a moment to herself.

The experience of her seven-year-old son Mac being diagnosed with autism was isolating at times.

“That was, I guess, the first time in my life that I had experienced being lonely … while also being completely surrounded by people,” Ms Wiseman said.

“I wasn’t surrounded by people who had the same experience, and who had the same thoughts and fears and emotions around that.”

And she worried others in similar situations may not be able access or recognise the support they need.

Both Ms McAnally and Ms Wiseman have shared their experiences as part of ongoing research for Ending Loneliness Together.

But, considering the scale of the problem, the solutions are complex.

“We know that loneliness is a whole systems problem … and even though it’s something that we do experience, all the time, it is actually incredibly difficult to resolve,” Dr Lim said.

In a 2024-25 pre-budget submission to the federal government, Ending Loneliness Together has called for a national strategy to address loneliness and social isolation, but it is not the first time they have done so.

“We know that loneliness is an issue that cuts across all sectors so we’re reaching need a coordination of different sectors to comprehensively address loneliness through a prevention lens, but also through an intervention lens,” Dr Lim said.

The Federal government has been contacted for comment.