The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describes diabetes as “a group of diseases characterized by high blood sugar” — a condition that, if uncontrolled, can lead to complications that include heart disease, stroke, blindness and kidney failure. The CDC’s 2022 National Diabetes Statistics Report estimates that 37.3 million people in the United States (11.3% of the total population) have diabetes; of those, 8.5 million are undiagnosed. More than 96 million people age 18 and older (38% of the total population) have prediabetes, including 26.4 million age 65 and older, and many of them are unaware of it.
In type 1 diabetes, which is typically diagnosed in childhood, a person’s body does not make enough insulin. In the far more common type 2 diabetes, the body develops “insulin resistance,” meaning that insulin is not used effectively. People affected by type 2 diabetes are often over 40, are overweight or have a family history of the disease. Though medication may be required at some point, type 2 diabetes can often be controlled by lifestyle changes, such as diet and exercise.
Type 2 diabetes disproportionately affects communities of color and groups with lower socioeconomic status. Preventing and managing it effectively requires that we recognize the impact of social determinants of health, such as food and housing insecurity, that can affect a person’s ability to make lifestyle changes.
For more than a decade, FHI 360 has supported the CDC’s efforts to help people prevent or manage type 2 diabetes through such programs as the Diabetes Education and Marketing Support project, the National Diabetes Prevention Program, the North Carolina Rural Media Project, the National Diabetes Prevention Program Family Approach Project and the Black Family-Focused Diabetes Control, Self-Management and Prevention Program.
Our comprehensive approach to diabetes prevention and management incorporates a deep understanding of racial disparity across the full spectrum of outcomes. We have developed a customized set of equity considerations, based on the Systematic Analysis for Unpacking Structural Racism framework, which guide our work from formative research to implementation and evaluation.
Projects
- Diabetes Education and Marketing Support (DEMS) | FHI 360
- North Carolina Rural Media Project
- National Diabetes Prevention Program (National DPP) Family Approach Project
- Black Family-Focused Diabetes Control, Self-Management, and Prevention Program
- National Diabetes Prevention Program (NDPP) | FHI 360
