The federal government must renew funding for the Aboriginal Diabetes Initiative (ADI) in next week's budget or more than 600 programs for Aboriginal Canadians living with diabetes are at risk of being shut down, according to the Canadian Diabetes Association and the National Aboriginal Diabetes Association (NADA).
"The federal government has made a commitment to Canada's Aboriginal People living with diabetes, and they must not waiver in this commitment," said Ellen Malcolmson, President and CEO, Canadian Diabetes Association. "The funding for the ADI sunsets at the end of March, and without this funding many of these community programs will simply not have the resources they need to continue operating."
The spread of diabetes has reached epidemic proportions in Canada's Aboriginal communities. The statistics are sobering:
- 20 per cent of the Aboriginal population lives with diabetes;
- Across Canada, the prevalence of type 2 diabetes is 3 to 5 times
higher in Aboriginal communities; and,
- Aboriginal People living with diabetes have higher rates of heart
disease, kidney disease, blindness, amputations and infectious
disease.