National scheme launched to reduce risk of diabetes in minority ethnic communities

Foot_massageDiabetes UK has launched a national Diabetes Community Champions programme, funded by the Department of Health, to train health workers from minority ethnic backgrounds to raise community awareness of diabetes risks and complications.

It is vital that people from minority ethnic communities have an understanding of diabetes, because South Asian people are up to six times more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes and people of African Caribbean descent are up to three times more likely, compared to people of a White European background. Also people from minority ethnic communities have a greater risk of developing Type 2 diabetes from the age of 25, compared to age 40 in people of White European descendants.

Type 2 diabetes can go undetected for up to ten years, and 50 per cent of people already show signs of complications by the time they are diagnosed. Some of the serious long-term complications include heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, blindness and amputation, if the condition is not managed properly. Read more at www.iocp.org.uk