VICTORIA – November is Diabetes Awareness Month and the government hopes to educate British Columbians as Diabetes rampant in BC
“Diabetes affects over 400,000 British Columbians of all ages. Diabetes
Awareness Month is an opportunity to learn more about risk factors for
this disease and the impact it has on people and their families. There
are many supports and resources available to families to help manage
and prevent the disease,” said Health Minister Terry Lake.
“These include extending coverage of insulin pumps to patients 25 and
under, new provincial standards for diabetes care in schools and
providing an incentive payment for doctors to help them in offering
continuous care for their diabetic patients.
“Thanks to B.C.’s PharmaCare program, residents can receive coverage
for 14 effective therapies for the treatment and management of
diabetes, and the program continues to review other new therapies for
possible coverage.
“British Columbia is also a leading centre for world-class health
research supported by the #BCTECH Strategy. The province has a high-
calibre health research environment, with strong research centres and
excellent researchers.
“At BC Children’s Hospital, research by the Canucks for Kids Fund
Childhood Diabetes Laboratories aims to improve the lives of children
with diabetes by understanding the causes of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes
and improving treatments.
“Promising research is coming out of the Centre for Drug Research and
Development. The centre is working with Zucara Therapeutics to develop
a new safe and effective long-term therapeutic to prevent hypoglycemia,
or low blood sugar, in patients with diabetes. Low blood sugar is a
daily risk people with diabetes face and can have serious, long-term
complications. Although still in its early stages, this new potential
drug therapy would dramatically change how people manage their
diabetes, improving their health and quality of life.
“We want to help British Columbians make healthy choices and be
proactive in managing their health. Chronic disease is the largest
contributor to B.C.’s health-care costs and as more children and adults
develop Type 2 diabetes, we want to encourage British Columbians to
lead healthy lifestyles. Healthy Families BC offers a wide range of
resources such as dietitian services, help for those who smoke, and
supports for increasing physical activity. Both the Carrot Rewards app
and ParticipACTION’s workplace UPnGO initiative encourage people to get
moving and are rewarded with loyalty points.
“Thanks to our investments in healthy living and clinical prevention, the
overall rate of people in B.C. developing Type 2 diabetes has been
dropping since 2010.
“As the number of people living with diabetes in urban areas continues
to rise, I’m encouraged to see cities like Vancouver stepping up and
addressing this issue by joining the Cities Changing Diabetes program
and taking action against diabetes.
“We are increasing screening rates significantly, and now about 85% of
adults in B.C. over age 45 have been screened for diabetes.
“In addition to the many supports in place, there is exciting diabetes
research coming out of B.C. that can improve the health of people of
all ages living with diabetes. I encourage all British Columbians to be
healthy leaders and take steps to reduce the chance of getting a
chronic disease like diabetes.”
