EXPERTS are calling for the creation of a diabetes action plan following the release of a report which shows the rate of the disease is likely to double over the next decade.
The Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute report predicts three-million Australians will have type 2 diabetes by 2025.
Diabetes Australia-Victoria statistics show Brimbank is already metropolitan Melbourne’s diabetes capital, with 11,793 residents living with the disease.
Both Brimbank and Melton Shire are recognised as ‘hot spots’, where more than 4 per cent of the population has either type 1 or 2 diabetes.
The rate of people with diabetes in Brimbank has risen 212.5 per cent since 2001.
On average, about 15 new cases are diagnosed each week.
Diabetes Australia Victoria chief executive Greg Johnson said state and federal governments needed to invest in strategies to prevent type 2 diabetes in high-risk areas like Melbourne’s western suburbs.
“The size of investment is small compared to the size of the problem and we now know one in five people have diabetes, which is staggering,” Mr Johnson said.
“There is so much funding going into cancer, and diabetes is very underestimated. There is a need for serious and structured funding in this area to target those at-risk groups.”
Mr Johnson said type 2 diabetes could be prevented through intensive lifestyle changes.
Migrants are at a greater risk of getting the disease. Research fellow at the Australian Community Centre for Diabetes in St Albans, Dr Rizwana Kousar, said many members of migrant communities still didn’t realise diabetes was a major threat to their health.
“We need to have ongoing education programs because so many people have serious complications from type2 diabetes,” Dr Kousar said.
“The messages to lead eat healthy and get more exercise needs to be tailored to individual communities. As it stands, it’s so difficult for these groups to get community grants so governments need to make more resources available.”
The health of Derrimut resident Heather Winter, 58, has dramatically improved after she dropped 49 kilograms through exercise and lap-band surgery.
She said she was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes eight years ago and was urged by her doctor to adopt a healthier lifestyle.
“I was very much overweight and my blood pressure was very high, so I had to start making changes,” Ms Winter said.
