Message from Dr. Norman Rosenblum on World Diabetes Day 2024: Empowering Global Health
Diabetes remains a pivotal global health challenge, affecting millions of people worldwide and posing significant risks to individuals and communities. World Diabetes Day 2024, celebrated on November 14th, shines a spotlight on this pressing issue under the theme "Empowering Global Health," underscoring the necessity of a united approach to tackle diabetes. It calls upon health care professionals, policymakers, researchers, and the public to engage in efforts that promote better understanding and management of diabetes. Empowerment begins with knowledge, and knowledge mobilization can be used to get the “right information” to the “right people” in the “right format” at the “right time”. As such, INMD in partnership with Breakthrough T1D Canada (formerly JDRF Canada) invested in Knowledge Mobilization in Diabetes Prevention and Treatment Operating Grants to enhance knowledge mobilization in the field of diabetes, focusing on evidence integration into health services, programs, and policies.
CIHR collaborates with international partners and researchers through the 100 Years of Insulin: Accelerating Canadian Discoveries to Defeat Diabetes initiative to harness global diabetes research knowledge and resources. Through the UK-Canada Diabetes Research Team Grants and the Netherlands-Canada Type 2 Diabetes Research Consortium, INMD has built partnerships with international health research funding agencies to provide opportunities for Canadian investigators to develop international partnerships to advance diabetes research.
Additionally, CIHR is an Associate Member of the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases. Through this partnership, we have supported diabetes research focusing on evidence-based interventions to prevent or treat noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), and to reduce exposure to common NCDs risk factors. For example, Dr. Gina Agarwal at McMaster University is leading a team grant aiming to determine how best to expand a cardiovascular and diabetes risk assessment program in one region in the Philippines.
World Diabetes Day 2024 calls attention to the importance of policy and systemic change. Dr. Mary Jung at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus, leads a Healthy Cities Implementation Science Team Grant: the Small Steps for Big Changes diabetes prevention program.Her team has implemented a diet and exercise counselling intervention for people with pre-diabetes that reduces the risk of developing type 2 diabetes (T2D). Small Steps is being implemented across YMCAs in Canada and is undergoing international evaluations in Portugal and Australia. This research aims to offer an innovative, cost-saving, and sustainable solution for the prevention of T2D in traditionally underserved, at-risk populations. Furthermore, a project grant, led by Dr. Ravi Retnakaran, Sinai Health System (Toronto), addresses the critical clinical question of whether lifestyle intervention before pregnancy can reduce the incidence of gestational diabetes mellitus.
Governments and organizations play a critical role in creating environments that support diabetes prevention and management, and their commitment to these goals can drive significant progress. I believe that research plays a critical role in diabetes prevention and management and has the power to transform lives and build a healthier, more informed world.
Dr. Norman Rosenblum, MD, FRCPC, FCAHS
Scientific Director
CIHR Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes
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