June 22, 1997 Two federal agencies today announced a joint national program to reduce the rising costs and prevalence of diabetes in the United States. The National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP) unveiled its plans to design strategies to reduce the morbidity and mortality of diabetes and its complications at the annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association in Boston, Massachusetts.
A joint project of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Division of Diabetes Translation (DDT) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the NDEP involves both public and private partners to design ways to improve treatment and outcomes for people with diabetes, to promote early diagnosis, and ultimately to prevent the onset of the disease.
Although much of the illness and death from diabetes can be decreased by aggressive treatment with diet, physical activity and new medicines that help people with diabetes achieve good glucose control, current studies show there is still a wide gap between the most current and most desired diabetes care and practices. "Through the NDEP, we hope to get the message out that diabetes is serious, common, costly, and controllable," said Dr. Phillip Gorden, NIDDK director. "We also hope the NDEP will be the vehicle through which scientific findings about diabetes are translated into information that people can use," he said.
Sixteen million Americans have diabetes, at an estimated cost to the nation of over $100 billion dollars a year. The prevalence of diabetes is rising, as the U.S. population ages, and as more Americans become obese. Obesity is a risk factor for Type 2 diabetes. Diabetes also affects minority populations disproportionately. Between nine and 10 percent of African Americans and Hispanic Americans have diabetes; among Native Americans diabetes can affect up to 50 percent.
In 1998, the NDEP will launch a public awareness campaign to alert the general public, patients, health care providers, as well as payers and purchasers of health care and policy makers of the seriousness and commonness of diabetes.
The NDEP is actively seeking partner organizations interested in diabetes and the health of their members. The American Diabetes Association, the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation International, the American Association of Diabetes Educators, and the American Dietetic Association have already signed on. With these partners, the NDEP will develop and disseminate a consistent set of diabetes messages, promote a health care team approach to diabetes care, and coordinate and share activities for diabetes care among its members. "The NDEP partnership with the American Diabetes Association, as well as our other partner organizations, are key to the long-term success of the NDEP," says Dr. Frank Vinicor, Director of the Division of Diabetes Translation for CDC.
During the past year and a half, the NDEP held a series of planning meetings with over 100 public and private organizations. "We believe that the NDEP brings together a critical mass of all the organizations who have an interest and concern about diabetes to talk about new ways we can partner, new ways we can work together, and new ways we can bring a critical mass to the diabetes effort," reports Dr. Richard Kahn, Chief Scientific and Medical Officer of the American Diabetes Association.
Findings from the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT), a 10-year, multi-centered trial funded by NDDK, provided the scientific basis for the NDEP. The DCCT demonstrated that keeping blood sugar levels as close to normal as possible dramatically slows the onset and progression of eye, kidney and nerve diseases caused by diabetes. "The NDEP is a major step toward closing the gap between the current and desired care practices, and to ultimately make a difference in outcomes for people with diabetes," says Dr. Charles Clark, Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology at Indiana University School of Medicine, Co-Director of the Regenstrief Institute, Associate Chief of Staff for Research and Development at the Roudebush VA Medical Center, and Chairperson of the NDEP. Dr. Clark was appointed chair of the NDEP by the two agencies in June 1996.
To receive a copy of "Planning the National Diabetes Education Program: Executive Summary," call NIDDK's National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse at (301) 654-3327.
# # #
CONTACT: Joanne Gallivan
National Institute of
Diabetes and Digestive
and Kidney Diseases
National Institutes of Health
(301) 496-3583 | | Faye Wong
Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention
(770) 488-5037 |
