We can’t wait another 100 years to end diabetes.
Dear Prime Minister Trudeau,
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Canadian discovery of insulin, a life-saving treatment for diabetes, but not a cure.
Diabetes continues to take Canadians’ lives, and the prevalence rates are alarming, with one in three Canadians living with or at risk of diabetes. Furthermore, those that are 20 years of age have a 50 per cent chance of being diagnosed with diabetes in their lifetime.
This disease is hurting our country, costing us billions of dollars and too many lives.
We need your help. On behalf of the nearly 11.5 million Canadians living with diabetes or prediabetes and all Canadians, we ask you to ensure that the Diabetes 360° strategy is funded in the 2021 federal budget.
Compared to 15 years ago, the number of Canadians living with diabetes has doubled. With every passing day, more than 20 Canadians die of diabetes complications, such as heart attack, stroke and kidney failure, 14 have lower limbs amputated because of diabetes, and 620 people receive a diagnosis of diabetes in Canada.
COVID-19 has exacerbated the challenges of diabetes by hindering care and increasing the chances of dying from COVID-19 by three times for those living with diabetes. One-third of Canadians stated they are now more concerned about diabetes than they were before.
The added economic stress, food insecurity, income insecurity, and physical inactivity caused by the pandemic puts even more Canadians at risk for type 2 diabetes in the future. The pandemic also disproportionately affects several key communities at higher risk of diabetes, including Indigenous Peoples, Black people, seniors and lower income-earning Canadians.
Canada must do better.
Canada needs a nation-wide strategy to improve the prevention, screening and treatment of diabetes, achieve better health for Canadians, save billions of dollars of health care costs, and help to strengthen our economy by creating a healthier workforce.
Developed by over a hundred leaders and stakeholders in the diabetes community, a Diabetes 360° strategy is a plan which could prevent 770,000 cases of type 2 diabetes, 34,000 amputations, 245,000 hospitalizations and save our economy $20 billion in just seven years.
This request is supported by an overwhelming majority of Canadians, including the Health and Finance Parliamentary Committees. They agree that the federal government should implement a nation-wide diabetes strategy within the next five years.
The federal government has already recognized the importance of having specific pan-Canadian strategies for diseases, such as cancer and mental illness. They have invested hundreds of millions of dollars over the past decade to improve health outcomes for those living with these diseases. The federal government must make the same commitment to Canadians living with diabetes and those at risk of developing it.
Prime Minister, without a comprehensive plan to end diabetes, Canadians face a future where the healthcare and human costs of diabetes will continue to rise exponentially. A strategy that can prevent millions of cases of type 2 diabetes and diabetes complications and save our health care system and the economy billions of dollars is urgently needed. This year, we ask that you commit to this in time to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the discovery of insulin in Canada.
We can’t wait another 100 years to End Diabetes. We must rally together by implementing a Diabetes 360° strategy in Canada now.
Sincerely,
Laura Syron
President and CEO of Diabetes Canada
For more information, visit https://www.diabetesstrategynow.ca/
