Urgent Need For Action To Address Increasing Rates Of Diabetes

Immediate and bold action is required to tackle obesity, which is the likely key driver behind a projected dramatic rise in the prevalence of diabetes shown in a new study.

The study, published in the New Zealand Medical Journal, projected the prevalence of diabetes in Aotearoa New Zealand will increase by nearly 90% to over half a million people by 2044. The increase will be seen most drastically in Pacific peoples, with diabetes prevalence in Pacific females projected to increase to 17% of the population by 2044.

While population growth and an aging population contribute to these findings, changing obesity profiles underpin the increase in the prevalence of diabetes, with the social determinants of obesity, including food environments, playing a key role.

Diabetes is a multifaceted, multisystem disease that requires clinical input spanning all levels of the healthcare system. The annual direct and indirect costs attributed to type 2 diabetes alone in Aotearoa New Zealand is estimated to be more than NZ$2 billion, projected to increase to approximately $3.5 billion in the next 20 years.

The study’s findings are alarming says New Zealand College of Public Health Medicine President Sir Collin Tukuitonga. “The massive increase in the future burden of diabetes threatens to swamp our health services which are already stretched to breaking point.” Tukuitonga says decision makers grappling with how to ensure our health system is sustainable and effective must take serious note of this study.

Tukuitonga says the College strongly supports the study authors’ call for immediate and bold action to “plug the dam” and stem the tide of diabetes and other obesity-related illnesses. “We must improve our food environments by policies such as taxing sugary drinks, restricting marketing of unhealthy food to children, and improving access to nutritious, locally produced food, coupled with other population-level interventions to more effectively manage and control diabetes”.

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