Ontario has declared war on diabetes, a disease that affects more than two million Canadians.
The province is spending $741 million over the next four years to help doctors and patients manage the disease and increase awareness for those at risk of getting it.
First, the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care will launch a diabetes registry in spring 2009 that will let health care providers check patient records and diagnostic information online and send alerts to patients.
The registry will also tell patients what they need to know about the disease.
“We will provide better access to information, programs and services to prevent people from getting diabetes in the first place,” said Minister of Health Promotion Margaret Best, in a release.
“There is solid evidence that tells us that many cases of diabetes can be prevented by increasing daily physical activity and making healthy food choices.”
Second, Ontario will pay for insulin pumps and supplies for 90,000 adults with Type 1 diabetes, becoming the first province in Canada to do so. Currently, it provides this coverage for young people 18 and under.
“It will help people who require an insulin pump prevent or delay the onset of heart attacks, strokes or kidney failure,” said Karen Philip of the Canadian Diabetes Association.
Third, the province will educate people in high risk populations, such as aboriginal and south Asian communities, about the dangers of diabetes.
Fourth, the province will increase access to dialysis services and bariatric surgery.
As well, the government will map the location of people with the disease and diabetes programs in order to close the gaps in service.
Quick facts:
1.Type 1 diabetes usually develops in childhood or adolescence when the body stops producing insulin. It accounts for 10 per cent of diabetes cases in Canada. There is no cure for the disease, but it can be managed.
2.Type 2 diabetes is usually diagnosed in adults over 45 when the body stops using insulin properly. It accounts for 90 per cent of diabetes cases in Canada.
3.Diabetes puts people at risk for other health problems such as heart disease and stroke, kidney and eye disease and limb amputations.
4.A diabetes patient costs Ontario’s health care system over $3,000 in the first year of treatment. If the patient has complications, this cost goes over $5,000.
5.Each patient that requires in-hospital dialysis costs the Ontario health care system more than $56,000 a year.
Diabetes is a global epidemic, affecting more than 246 million people worldwide. More than three million Canadians will have diabetes by 2010, said the Canadian Diabetes Association. More than four million Canadians are at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes without even knowing it.
