A short film has been made to promote awareness and understanding of the increased risk of Type 2 diabetes among the South Asian community.
It was recorded at an event held in Loughborough at the Bangladeshi Association staged to celebrate the culmination of a NIHR-funded CLAHRC East Midlands study to implement a type 2 diabetes prevention pathway in a multi-ethnic population.
As part of the study, 3,000 people in Loughborough and Shepshed were targeted in a drive to prevent Type 2 diabetes. The towns were the first in the country to benefit from a new group education programme called Let’s Prevent Diabetes, which has now been adopted nationally as part of the Healthier You: NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme (NHS DPP).
Now people at high risk of Type 2 diabetes are being encouraged to refer themselves to the NHS DPP, which will support 100,000 people a year across the whole country by 2020 through tailored, personalised help.
The film included comments from people who have been through the programme as well as from Dr Mel Ghaly, from Woodbrook Medical Centre, Loughborough, who helped lead the study.
The East Midlands has some areas with very high prevalence of diabetes and it is predicated that this will continue to increase. People from a BME background are known to be at a particular high risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
For more information about the national Type 2 diabetes prevention programme, visit stopdiabetes.co.uk.
