Healthy People 2020 and Diabetes
Diabetes is a community health problem that is also a Healthy People 2020 priority area. Tabish (2007) has cited it as a growing epidemic occurring all over the world. Because diabetes has been linked to obesity, poor diet and lack of exercise, it is reasonable to arrive at the conclusion that if people ate better and exercised more the rising spread of diabetes could be reversed. This is the contention of researchers such as Davis (2008) and Cunninghamm-Myrie, Theall, Younger et al. (2015). In short, diabetes is impacting everyone. All who consume "fast food" type of diets are at risk of developing diabetes according to these studies.
The public health leadership problem related to this health issue is that public health leaders appear all too willing to simply treat the symptoms of diabetes instead of attacking the causes of the disease. Better leadership in this area would be an example of what Davis (2008) did in the Marshall Islands, when he led the natives back to their natural healthy diet and away from the pre-packaged, manufactured food items that they were importing from the West. Within a year, diabetes (which had been so prominent in the Islands -- unlike never before) was gone, all thanks...
If it worked in the Marshall Islands, it should work elsewhere. The kind of leadership that is needed in the U.S. is that which will inspire such a direction and a change in the way people eat and live and think about the impact of the diets.
This problem relates to the Healthy People 2020 priority areas as it is identified as one of the 42 topic areas for the program by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Healthy People, 2015). Thus, it is considered a serious problem area that needs attention.
Potential Resources
Almeida-Pititto, B. et al. (2015). Type 2 diabetes in Brazil: epidemiology and management. Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity: Targets and Therapy, 8: 17-28.
Billings, L., Florez, J. (2010). The genetics of type 2 diabetes: what have we learned from GWAS? Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1212: 59-77
Cunningham-Myrie, C., Theall, K., Yonger, N., et al. (2015). Associations between neighborhood effects and physical activity, obesity, and diabetes: The Jamaica Health and Lifestyle Survey,…
