Small Steps. Big Rewards. Prevent type 2 Diabetes. Campaign
Campaign Overview:
Millions of Americans are at high risk for diabetes, a serious and costly disease that has reached epidemic proportions in the past 10 years. The good news: diabetes can be prevented or delayed. To get this important information to those at risk, the National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP) has created the Small Steps. Big Rewards. Prevent type 2 Diabetes campaign.
The NDEP has created campaign messages and materials for people at risk for diabetes, including those at high risk: African Americans, Hispanic and Latino Americans, Native Americans and Alaska Natives, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, women with a history of gestational diabetes and older adults. In addition, the NDEP and its partners are promoting diabetes prevention to health care professionals to give them the information and tools to help their patients take small steps to prevent the disease.
The Science Behind the Campaign
The Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP), a landmark study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, found that people at increased risk for type 2 diabetes can prevent or delay the onset of the disease by losing 5 to 7 percent of their body weight through increased physical activity and a reduced fat and lower calorie diet.
In the DPP, modest weight loss proved effective in preventing or delaying type 2 diabetes in all groups at high risk for the disease. That is why the Department of Health and Human Services’ NDEP is mobilizing its partners at the national, state, and local levels to promote the DPP’s findings.
The Campaign’s Message
Small Steps: If you have pre-diabetes (higher than normal blood glucose levels but not yet diabetes), you only need to lose a modest amount of weight - for example, 10 to 15 pounds for a 200-pound person - to prevent type 2 diabetes. You can do it by building up to 30 minutes of physical activity a day 5 days a week and following a low-calorie, low-fat eating plan.
Big Rewards: Preventing type 2 diabetes can mean a healthier and longer life without serious complications from the disease such as heart disease, stroke, blindness, kidney failure, and amputations.
Campaign Components
Publications
Power to Prevent: A Family Lifestyle Approach to Diabetes Prevention
(NDEP-69ENT)
This modular curriculum can be used by small groups to learn how to make healthy lifestyle changes around food and physical activity to prevent and manage diabetes. Accompanying CD-ROM has files for NDEP materials used in conjunction with the curriculum.
Diabetes Community Partnership Guide
(NDEP-21)
This how-to kit contains ideas, tools, and guidelines to develop community partnerships to promote diabetes activities.
