Prevention Of Type II Diabetes Policy Gap Analysis Essay

By 2020 estimates show that approximately 250 million people worldwide will be affected by type 2 diabetes mellitus (Shulman, 2000). Type 2 diabetes also known as adult-onset or non-insulin-dependent diabetes

This essay will focus on type 2 diabetes, which is becoming one of the fast growing chronic health conditions in the United Kingdom (UK). Approximately 700 people are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes each day in the UK (Diabetes Uk, (2014)a). It is costing the NHS about £10billion pounds each year to treat diabetes along with its complication and it is expected to rise in the next couple of years (Diabetes UK, (2014)b).

Type II diabetes is a chronic medical condition that affects the way the body uses glucose. With diabetes, the body can resist the effect of insulin or fails to produce enough insulin to preserve a glucose level within normal limits. Type II diabetes is becoming much more common than before and the occurrence is growing. Approximately 23.5 million people in the United States are living with type II diabetes (Fesselle, 2010).

Type 2 diabetes is a very serious disease with many life threatening consequences, but if it is manage properly through preventative measures, diabetics can live a normal life.

Type II diabetes is a disease that affects millions of people in the United States and is also a disease that is continually growing in numbers. The cost of the individual and national health care systems is also a number that is growing. Policy for prevention of diabetes and pre-diabetes is something that while has changed some in the past, has been basically the same for the past 20-25 yeas. This disease affects many throughout the country, but effects those in the middle and lower classes due to the cost of eating healthier being greater than the alternative and also due to the fact that these groups are less likely to go for routine health care.

In order to combat the epidemic of type 2 diabetes in America, a series of subsidies and social programs promoting and mandating nutrition and exercise for weight loss should be created with the trillion dollar budget. The prevalence of type 2 diabetes in America is rising and has doubled over the last 30 years to 23 million (Campbell). Currently, it costs the nation about $90 billion a year to treat the complications of type 2 diabetes (Hoerger). Added with the co-morbidities of type 2 diabetes, namely cardiovascular disease, obesity, and kidney failure, it becomes apparent that drastic measures are needed. In order to combat this epidemic, the U.S. Congress is proposing to use a trillion dollars to do whatever it takes to reduce the

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) is the most common form of diabetes (American Diabetes Association, 2012). T2D is so prevalent that it is estimated to be the fifth most common cause of death worldwide (Yates, Jarvis, Troughton, and JaneDavies, 2009, p. 1). T2D manifests when the body is unable to metabolize glucose properly, resulting in elevated blood sugar, debilitating fatigue, and other serious complications such as distal limb amputations, kidney failure, and blindness. The generally accepted causes of T2D include diet, sedentary lifestyle, and obesity.

Diabetes affects over 180 million people in the US and is projected that by 2025 this figure will increase to 300 million.

Did you know diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States? (Fukunaga, 2011). Many are unaware approximately 25.8 million American’s, 8.3% of the population suffer from diabetes. Type II Diabetes Mellitus (DM II) is by far the most prevalent and accounts for 90-95 percent of the 25.8 million diabetic patients. The long term complications of DM II make it a devastating disease. It is the leading cause of adult blindness, end-stage kidney disease, and non-traumatic lower limb amputation (Lewis, Dirksen, Heitkemper, & Bucher 2014, p. 1154). Not only is diabetes debilitating to patients but also the health and employment costs are substantial. According to Fukunaga (2011), “The estimated national cost of diabetes exceeds

The effects of diabetes are nothing less than devastating. It is a disease that is affected by interdependent genetic, social, economic, cultural, and historic factors (CDC, 2011a). In the United States, nearly 26 million Americans are living with diabetes, and another 79 million Americans have prediabetes (CDC, 2011a). Diabetes has been associated with reducing the quality of life of people with the disease, and it also has a tremendous economic burden on our health care system. In 2007, diabetes and its complication accounted for $218 billion in direct and indirect costs in 2007 alone (Dall, et al., 2010).

The State of the nation 2016 (England): time to take control of diabetes1 report from Diabetes UK warns us that 5 million people in England are at high risk of developing T2DM. We have high quality evidence from several international diabetes prevention studies2 that early lifestyle intervention can reduce both long-term progression to T2DM, and long-term incidence of cardiovascular & all-cause mortality. Based on this evidence, the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme3 was launched during 2016 to provide individualised lifestyle support for those at high risk of T2DM.

Type 2 diabetes is a very well known disease throughout the US. There are about 27 million people in the US with the disease and 86 million others have prediabetes which means their blood glucose is not right but also not high enough to be diabetes yet. 208,000 people under the age of twenty have been diagnosed with either Type 1 or 2 Diabetes.

In 2012, the United States had 29.1 million diabetics and spent $245 billion on diabetes-related care according to American Diabetes Association (Statistics About Diabetes, 2014). Nearly 95% of diabetics have type II diabetes (National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse, 2014). Type II diabetics have insulin resistance related to their peripheral tissues (Banasik & Copstead, 2013).

According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), more than 371 million people across the globe have diabetes and this figure is predicted to rise to over 550 million by 2030. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the hormone insulin is not used effectively by the cells in your body. Insulin is needed for cells to take in glucose from the bloodstream and convert it into energy. Ineffective use of insulin results in the body becoming resistant to normal levels of insulin. When the body becomes resistant, in advanced stages, insulin secreted cells in the pancreas becomes damaged, and eventually requires exogenous insulin to maintain sufficient levels.

In an effort to reduce the economic impact of Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) in the United States, as well as to improve the quality of life in patients with T2D, a trillion dollar grant should be distributed amongst five categories with varying monetary allocations as such: 400 billion dollars to prevention and treatment of T2D, 200 billion dollars to the increased social awareness of T2D, 150 billion to the establishment of community health centers in various urban areas, 150 billion to further research on the biological mechanisms underlying insulin resistance in T2D, and the last 100 billion dollars to the development of better in-vitro diagnostic (IVD) monitoring and insulin delivery devices. In 2012, the total estimated cost of diabetes was