UNCC300 - Justice and Change: Addressing Type 2 Diabetes Globally

This essay addresses the increasing rates of type 2 diabetes globally, particularly focusing on its disproportionate impact on socioeconomically disadvantaged and indigenous communities. It highlights the challenges associated with achieving common good, such as unhealthy diets, sedentary lifestyles, obesity, smoking, and remoteness. The essay emphasizes the importance of education on diabetes management and prevention, promoting healthy diets and physical exercise, increasing access to healthcare services, and developing strong food labeling policies. It concludes by underscoring the need to address these challenges to maintain the health and wellbeing of the population and ensure the common good, referencing various studies and reports to support its arguments and proposed solutions.

Running head: INCREASING RATES OF TYPE 2 DIABETES
Justice and Change in a Global World
-Increasing rates of Type 2 Diabetes
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1INCREASING RATES OF TYPE 2 DIABETES
Introduction:
Diabetes is a disease that causes an abnormal increase in blood sugar level
(hyperglycemia) to an extent that it causes interference with normal functioning of the body.
Diabetes type 2 is caused when the body is unable to use insulin properly causing improper
regulation of blood sugar levels. This phenomenon is called insulin resistance where the cells
do not react to the presence of insulin in blood, thereby increasing the blood sugar levels
(Nolan et al, 2015).
Background to the problem and its relation to the discipline:
Globally the incidence of type 2 diabetes is rapidly increasing. According to World
Health Organization, the number of people diagnosed of type 2 diabetes increased from 108
million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014. In adults the incidents rose from 4.7% tp 8.5% in the
same period. In 2016 alone about 1.6 million deaths occurred due to type 2 diabetes (World
Health Organization, 2016). In Australia almost 6% of the adults (1.2 million people are
diagnosed with type 2 diabetes every year). In 2013, 15,100 deaths have occurred due to
diabetes amounting to 10% of all deaths that year (Skinner et al., 2016).
The rates are especially higher in socioeconomically disadvantages and remote
communities such as several indigenous communities. Studies show that the indigenous
people and individuals living in socioeconomically disadvantages communities are 3.5 and
3.6 times more likely to suffer from type 2 diabetes compared to non indigenous Australians.
According to some estimates almost one out of every 8 Indigenous Australian adult has type
2 diabetes and his higher among the females than males (Hill et al., 2017; Rankin et al.,
2016).

2INCREASING RATES OF TYPE 2 DIABETES
Type 2 diabetes can be caused due to several factors such as genetic predisposition,
obesity, and metabolic syndrome. However, obesity is one of the most significant causes of
type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes can significantly impact the health and wellbeing of people
and increase risks of several, chronic health conditions such as high blood pressure, terminal
neuropathy, retinopathy, and liver and pancreatic dysfunction, kidney damage, and stroke,
heart attack and foot ulcers (Nolan et al., 2015). Therefore a high incidence of type 2 diabetes
shows a lower state of wellbeing of the community. Moreover, the higher incidence of type 2
diabetes among the indigenous communities and among the females highlights a health gap
between them. This health gap is a significant disadvantage against the common good (Nanri
et al., 2015; Cochran, 1999).
Challenges associated with the achievement of common good:
Some of the biggest challenges to mitigate the problem of type to diabetes and
maintain common good of the Australian citizen are discussed below:
Unhealthy diet: One of the biggest risk factors of diabetes as well as obesity is an unhealthy
diet, characterized by too much intake of sugar and fats and too little intake of dietary fibers.
Sedentary Lifestyle: A lack of proper physical exercise and sedentary lifestyle is another
significant risk factor for diabetes as well as obesity.
Obesity: This has been associated with a high risk of diabetes as the excess accumulation of
fat can cause insulin resistance, causing type 2 diabetes.
Smoking: This is considered to be a lifestyle risk that can increase the risk fo obesity and
diabetes.
Remoteness: Studies have shown that remoteness of the communities can reduce access to
healthcare services and thus increase the risks of several diseases including diabetes.

3INCREASING RATES OF TYPE 2 DIABETES
Socio-economic disadvantage: Similarly, socioeconomic disadvantage can also increase the
risks of diabetes due to higher risks of lifestyle problems such as sedentary lifestyle, poor
diet, smoking and alcoholism.
Additional challenges to reduce the rates of type 2 diabetes: The higher risks of diabetes inb
several places are mainly caused due to a lack of awareness about diabetes and its
management and prevention and lack of access to proper healthcare services.
(Diabetes, 2016; Nolan et al., 2015)
Conclusion: The way forward
In order to ensure the maintenance of the health and wellbeing of the people and thus
ensure the maintenance of common good it is vital that the challenges towards the mitigation
of type 2 diabetes and its impacts be addressed. Outlined below are strategies that can help to
address this issue and reduce the risks of type 2 diabetes:
 Educating people about diabetes management and diabetes prevention
 Educating people on healthy diet and recommended daily physical exercise levels
 Increasing access to healthcare services in remote as well as socioeconomically
disadvantages communities
 Educating people on the effects of smoking and conducting smoking cessaytion
campaigns
 Developing strong policies on food labeling that can provide accurate information
about fat and sugar content
(Diabetes, 2016; Nolan et al., 2015)

4INCREASING RATES OF TYPE 2 DIABETES
References:
Cochran, C.E., 1999. The common good and healthcare policy. Health Progress, 80(3),
pp.41-44.
Diabetes, A., 2016. National evidence based guideline for patient education in type 2
diabetes. Sydney: diabetes Australia Guideline Development Consortium (DAGD). 2009.
Hill, K., Ward, P., Grace, B.S. and Gleadle, J., 2017. Social disparities in the prevalence of
diabetes in Australia and in the development of end stage renal disease due to diabetes for
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in Australia and Maori and Pacific Islanders in New
Zealand. BMC public health, 17(1), p.802.
Nanri, A., Mizoue, T., Kurotani, K., Goto, A., Oba, S., Noda, M., Sawada, N., Tsugane, S.
and Japan Public Health Center-Based Prospective Study Group, 2015. Low-carbohydrate
diet and type 2 diabetes risk in Japanese men and women: the Japan Public Health Center-
Based Prospective Study. PLoS One, 10(2), p.e0118377.
Nolan, C.J., Ruderman, N.B., Kahn, S.E., Pedersen, O. and Prentki, M., 2015. Insulin
resistance as a physiological defense against metabolic stress: implications for the
management of subsets of type 2 diabetes. Diabetes, 64(3), pp.673-686.
Rankin, P., Morton, D., Kent, L. and Mitchell, B.G., 2016. A community-based lifestyle
intervention targeting Type II Diabetes risk factors in an Australian Aboriginal population: a
feasibility study. This article was originally published as: Rankin, P., Morton, D., Kent, L., &
Mitchell, BG (2016). A community-based lifestyle intervention targeting type II diabetes risk
factors in an Australian Aboriginal population: A feasibility study. Australian Indigenous
HealthBulletin, 16 (3), 1-5. Retrieved from http://healthbulletin. org. au/articles/a-

5INCREASING RATES OF TYPE 2 DIABETES
community-based-lifestyle-intervention-targeting-type-ii-diabetes-risk-factors-in-an-
australian-aboriginal-population-a-feasibility-study ISSN: 1445-7253.
Skinner, T.C., Pouwer, F. and Speight, J., 2016. Elizabeth Holmes-Truscott* The Australian
Centre for Behavioural Research in Diabetes, Diabetes Australia-Victoria, Australia; School
of Psychology, Deakin University, Australia. Receptiveness and Resistance: Perceptions of
Insulin Use in Type 2 Diabetes, p.127.
World Health Organization, 2016. Global report on diabetes. World Health Organization.