Diabetes summit ends with several goals set

During this week’s first annual Pacific Region Diabetes Summit, representatives from various groups within the CNMI set physical activity and data collection as priorities in the ongoing effort to prevent diabetes.

CNMI representatives, made up of private clinic doctors, Public Health Department employees, Public School System employees, Diabetes Coalition members and other stakeholders, are concentrating on preventative measures, Lynn Tenorio, Deputy Secretary for Public Health Administration, said.

Physical activity will help with a host of other diseases, as well, such as childhood obesity and cardiovascular disease, she added.

Collecting data is also important for the Commonwealth, she said. It drives funding initiatives.

“Data drives decision making,” she said. “We don’t know where you’re at and where you can go without it.”

Other jurisdictions taking part set their own focus and goals during the five-day summit. The first two and a half days were spent sharing information, resources and techniques among the jurisdictions, while the second portion was spent in breakout groups focusing on issues related to each individual jurisdiction.

Tenorio said there are plans underway for another Pacific diabetes summit in spring 2009 where the representatives can share the status of the goals they set.

Joseph Kevin Villagomez, Public Health Secretary, said officials from federal agencies were able to provide information on diabetes funding.

“We’re in awe of the federal participation,” he said. “They were all in one room to provide guidance.”

While the local government also provides money for dealing with the disease’s effects, very little is earmarked for preventing diabetes, Villagomez said. That needs to change, he added.

“Or else we’ll be here 10 years from now discussing the same [disease] rates and problems,” he said.

Thirty percent of CNMI residents are afflicted with the illness, ranking the Commonwealth among the top five populations for the rate of diabetes, Tenorio said.

According to 2002 statistics, there were 3,019 known diabetes patients in the CNMI, with half being of Chamorro descent.

In the past, type II diabetes was seen in older patients, but now it is being seen in kids as young as 10 years old in the CNMI. In the Pacific region, kids as young as 6 years old are being diagnosed with the illness, Tenorio said.

The illness has forced the Commonwealth Health Center to install 18 additional dialysis units, bringing the total number to 30, Tenorio said.

Pacific jurisdictions taking part in the summit were: CNMI, American Samoa, Guam, Palau, Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.

Several organizations helped to fund the summit and pay for the travel costs of the attendees. The organizations include: Health and Human Service’s Office of Global Health Affairs; National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities; Indian Health Services; and the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs.