Thursday 22 April 2021 2:46pm
Professor Jim Mann, Co-Director of the Edgar Diabetes and Obesity Research Centre (EDOR), has long called for a new independent Public Health Agency:
"All of us in public health would have liked to have seen an independent public health agency. I don't know a single senior health professional who wouldn't like to see that," says Jim Mann in Newsroom, June 2020.
A new Public Health Agency was announced this week by the Minister of Health, Hon Andrew Little, and while it is not independent, it is part of a number of health system reforms. These include a proposed single nationwide health service and the establishment of a Māori Health Authority.
The Economic and Social Cost of Type 2 Diabetes report, which was recently launched at Parliament and co-commissioned by EDOR, identified striking health inequities in those affected by type 2 diabetes in Aotearoa New Zealand. A Māori Health Authority is likely to make important progress in addressing these inequities.
Four health interventions for type 2 diabetes examined in the report were found to be cost-effective, saving hundreds of millions of dollars, increasing life expectancy, and improving the quality of life for a huge number of New Zealanders. But to implement these programmes effectively, a national strategy for type 2 diabetes was strongly recommended. This may now be possible with the development of a single NZ national health service.
Over one million New Zealanders have prediabetes or diabetes. It is hoped that the new Public Health Agency will implement population-wide measures with urgency to stem the tide of our diabetes epidemic. The current cost of type 2 diabetes in New Zealand is $2.1 billion per year, a staggering 0.67% of our country's GDP. Without appropriate preventive measures and health interventions, this cost could reach $3.5 billion per year by 2040.
Read more about the health system reforms
- Public Health Agency 'the legacy of the pandemic', Newsroom, 22 April, 2021
- Māori Health Authority 'could be a big step forward for our people', RNZ, 22 April, 2021
- Health experts on health sector overhaul: 'Devil in the detail but everybody is feeling positive', RNZ, 21 April, 2021
Cost of Type 2 Diabetes report launch
- EDOR directors instrumental in Type 2 Diabetes report, EDOR, 8 April, 2021
- Action needed on Type 2 Diabetes, EDOR, 25 March, 2021
- New Zealand needs urgent action to tackle the frightening rise and cost of type 2 diabetes, The Conversation, 24 March, 2021
- Cost of Type 2 Diabetes report launched at Parliament, EDOR, 15 March, 2021
