Diabetes DHB Toolkit

Diabetes
DHB Toolkit

Date of publication: December 2003

Summary
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Summary

Diabetes presents a serious health challenge for New Zealand. It is a significant cause of ill health and premature death. Reducing the incidence and impact of diabetes is therefore one of the 13 immediate action priority objectives for population health in the New Zealand Health Strategy. This toolkit provides information and resources to assist District Health Boards (DHBs) and Primary Health Organisations (PHOs) to work toward that objective.

Diabetes affects about 200,000 people in New Zealand but only half of these people have been diagnosed. The prevalence of diabetes across the population of New Zealand is currently estimated at around 4 percent. Within the New Zealand population, the prevalence of diabetes in Māori and Pacific populations is around three times higher than among other New Zealanders.

Diabetes is defined by abnormalities in the regulation of blood glucose levels, but it is a chronic condition causing kidney failure, eye disease, foot ulceration and a higher risk of heart disease. Although there are other types of diabetes, the scope of this toolkit is restricted to type 1 and type 2 diabetes:

Type 1 is an autoimmune condition that typically develops in children and young adults and absolutely requires insulin
Type 2 typically develops in middle or older ages but it is increasingly seen in overweight children. Depending on the stage of development it is treated with a combination of drugs and diet, although insulin may also be required.

Type 1 has the greatest impact on an individual and their family/whanau and is not preventable. Type 2, representing about 90 percent of people with diabetes, is doubling every 15 years as a result of the ageing population, increasing obesity and physical inactivity. Type 2 is substantially preventable with lifestyle changes.

Primary prevention programmes aimed at reducing the risk factors for type 2 diabetes (ie, reducing obesity and increasing physical activity) could have major benefits in reducing the future impacts of type 2 diabetes. However, with little international evidence of primary prevention programmes that have been effective, further research is required to develop effective programme models. The National Diabetes Research Strategy, jointly funded by the Ministry of Health and the Health Research Council, has funded research to develop and test community-based programmes for preventing diabetes in high-risk people.

Once diabetes has been diagnosed, effective management, including treatment, education and support, is required to maintain health and prevent the development of diabetes-related complications. This toolkit cannot over emphasise the value of teamwork and collaboration between health professionals, people with diabetes, local organisations and national agencies to ensure that intersecting services work together for people with diabetes. To improve the quality and effectiveness of treatment, services should work together to intervene earlier, intervene more effectively and increase the uptake of interventions. Services must be structured and well co-ordinated, with effective information flows between care providers.

Publication availability

The Diabetes toolkit is available in Word format below:

Diabetes Toolkit (Word, 480 KB)

Resources linked to from the toolkit are available below:

Note: Links to some resources in the Toolkit are broken. This is because the resources are no longer available on the web. In these cases the website address has been left in the Toolkit but the link is not active. (Feb 2008)

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Diabetes