Source: Radio New Zealand
Maungakiekie MP Greg Fleming. RNZ / Felix Walton
A new diabetes roadmap hopes to slow the disease’s progression and decrease the number of amputations.
The government’s roadmap would be released publicly, but not for a number of weeks while its details were finalised.
Maungakiekie MP Greg Fleming announced the plan on behalf of an airborne health minister Simeon Brown at the Tongan Health Society clinic in Auckland’s Onehunga.
“Health New Zealand estimates that diabetes care in 2024-2025 (fiscal year) translated to an estimated $2.1 billion, and even that figure likely underestimates the true cost,” he said.
“The National Diabetes Roadmap sets out a clear and coordinated direction for responding to these challenges, and recognises a vital truth: that diabetes cannot be managed by individual effort alone, it requires system-level leadership and it requires long term commitment.”
Fleming said that accountability would be provided by an oversight group led by epidemiologist Sir Jim Mann.
Mann was clear he intended to flex his role as overseer.
Sir Jim Mann. Billy Wong/University of Auckland
“Please warn Minister Brown that he will be hearing from me, and I hope lots of others, frequently,” he told Fleming.
“I have been in this country for 40 years now and I feel more positive today than I have felt before in my work in diabetes. I am absolutely determined that we’re not going to lose the momentum.”
Mann described the prevalence of diabetes in New Zealand as an epidemic akin to measles or Covid-19.
“People have talked about the ‘epidemic of diabetes,’ but it’s kind of been like ‘epidemic’ with a small ‘e’ instead of epidemic with a capital ‘E’.”
He said it would not be solved overnight.
“We are realists, we know what is written in that roadmap cannot be implemented tomorrow. We know there are a lot of constraints on public money, there are a lot of things that need to be funded, but this is clearly a priority.”
Health New Zealand’s Dr Richard Sullivan, also on the oversight committee, had his sights set on a number of priority areas.
Health New Zealand chief clinical officer Dr Richard Sullivan. RNZ / Calvin Samuel
“There’s areas we just know we need to tackle. Some of those things are foot care, weight management guidelines, opportunity around potentially a diabetes register,” he said.
“[On Wednesday], in fact, a small group are sitting down and looking at how we come up with a prioritisation framework, so we’ve got the roadmap, we’ve got the baseline review, we know the costs, so actually where do we start and where do we invest, and putting together that plan over the months ahead.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
