Healthy People 2020: Diabetes as a Community Health Priority
This paper examines diabetes as both a growing global epidemic and a designated Healthy People 2020 priority area. Drawing on research by Davis (2008), Cunningham-Myrie et al. (2015), and Tabish (2007), it argues that poor diet and physical inactivity are primary drivers of the disease and that public health leaders should focus on root-cause prevention rather than symptom management. The case of the Marshall Islands — where a return to traditional diet and activity eliminated a diabetes outbreak — is presented as a model for the kind of community-based leadership needed in the United States. The paper concludes with an annotated resource list covering epidemiology, genetics, clinical guidelines, and global management of type 2 diabetes.
- Introduction: Diabetes as a Growing Epidemic: Diabetes as global epidemic linked to diet
- Public Health Leadership and Root-Cause Prevention: Leadership should target causes, not symptoms
- Connection to Healthy People 2020 Priority Areas: Diabetes among 42 CDC priority topic areas
- Potential Resources: Annotated references on diabetes epidemiology and management
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What makes this paper effective
- Uses a compelling real-world case study — the Marshall Islands intervention by Davis (2008) — to ground the abstract argument about root-cause prevention in concrete evidence.
- Clearly connects the topic to a recognized national policy framework (Healthy People 2020), demonstrating awareness of the broader public health context.
- Efficiently moves from problem identification to leadership critique to policy connection, keeping the argument focused within a short format.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates effective use of a comparative case study to support a policy argument. By contrasting what happened in the Marshall Islands under targeted dietary leadership with the prevailing U.S. approach of treating symptoms, the author uses evidence-based reasoning to advocate for a specific public health strategy without overstating the claim.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a brief epidemiological framing supported by multiple citations. The second paragraph pivots to a leadership critique and introduces the Marshall Islands example as a countermodel. The third paragraph anchors the discussion in the Healthy People 2020 framework. A final reference list provides curated resources spanning epidemiology, genetics, and clinical practice, signaling scholarly breadth appropriate for an undergraduate public health course.
Introduction: Diabetes as a Growing Epidemic
Diabetes is a community health problem and 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 conclude 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 Cunningham-Myrie, Theall, Younger, et al. (2015). In short, diabetes is impacting everyone. All who consume "fast food" type diets are at risk of developing diabetes, according to these studies.
Public Health Leadership and Root-Cause Prevention
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 resemble what Davis (2008) did in the Marshall Islands, when he guided the native population back to their traditional, healthy diet and away from the pre-packaged, manufactured food items they had been importing from the West.
Within a year, diabetes — which had become remarkably prominent in the Islands, unlike any period before — was gone, thanks entirely to the traditional diet and the physical activity that came from producing one's own food, as had always been the custom in the Islands before the importation of Western food products. If this approach worked in the Marshall Islands, it should be transferable elsewhere. The kind of leadership needed in the United States is leadership that will inspire such a direction — a genuine change in the way people eat, live, and think about the impact of their diets on long-term health outcomes.
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