Diabetes
Diabetes is a lifelong condition where your body does not produce
enough insulin, or your body cannot properly use the insulin it
produces. Your body needs insulin to change the sugar from food
into energy. With diabetes, the sugar stays in your blood so that
your blood sugar level gets too high. High blood sugar levels over
long periods of time can cause complications such as damage to
blood vessels and kidneys and difficulties with circulation.
There are three main types of diabetes:
- type 1, where the body makes little or no
insulin;
- type 2, where the body makes insulin but
cannot use it properly (nine out of ten people with diabetes
have type 2); and
- gestational diabetes, where the body is not
able to properly use insulin during pregnancy. This type of diabetes
goes away after the baby is born.
Aboriginal Diabetes Initiative
The Government of Canada created the Canadian Diabetes
Strategy. Recognizing the heavy burden of diabetes in
Aboriginal peoples, over half of the funding from this strategy
was allocated to the Aboriginal Diabetes Initiative (ADI) to
begin to address this urgent health concern.
Rates of diabetes among Aboriginal people in Canada are three
to five times higher than those of the general Canadian population.
Aboriginal children are also now being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes,
a condition that in the past occurred mainly in older persons.
Inuit rates of diabetes are not as high as those of other Aboriginal
populations; however, there is concern that the rates of type 2
diabetes are increasing among Inuit as well.
The Aboriginal Diabetes Initiative is designed to provide a more
comprehensive, collaborative and integrated approach to decreasing
diabetes and  its
complications among Aboriginal peoples. The program is overseen
by a national steering committee with representation from the national
Aboriginal representative organizations (Assembly of First Nations,
Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, Métis National
Council, Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, Native Women's Association
of Canada) as well as the National Aboriginal Diabetes Association.
The program is divided into two components, each with a separate
framework and funding formula.
The ADI has been developed in partnership with Aboriginal people.
Programs which emphasize holistic approaches and strive to be culturally
appropriate are now in place across the country. Aboriginal people
are involved in all stages of development, implementation and program
maintenance.
In the early stages of the Aboriginal Diabetes Initiative, consultations
were undertaken to help guide the development of the program. For
a summary of the findings from the consultations, please see the Consultation
Summary Report.
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