New Zealand's most successful Olympian, a Māori Battalion veteran and a driving force in public health are among six New Zealanders appointed knights and dames today.
More needed to be done to prevent people developing type 2 diabetes, the report found. “I didn t realise we spent $2.1 bn in terms of the cost of diabetes or 0.67 per cent of gross domestic product. That is horrific, we just can t afford to do that,” he said. Type 2 diabetes is usually a disease of middle-aged and older people related to excess weight, diet and lack of physical activity but, for genetic reasons, people of Māori, Pacific and South-Asian ethnicities are particularly at risk. It often leads to other illnesses such as liver and heart disease and can result in limb amputations.
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Urgent priority : Dire diabetes price tag expected to blow out to $3.5 billion a year by 2040
12 Mar, 2021 05:00 AM
5 minutes to read
Emma Russell is a health reporter for the New Zealand Heraldemma.russell@nzherald.co.nz
A damning report reveals the skyrocketing number of New Zealanders with type 2 diabetes is expected to cost our health system $3.5 billion a year by 2040.
That s up from the $2.1 billion our health system currently spends annually on treating the chronic condition that can lead to blindness, amputation and a life hooked up to a dialysis machine.
Researchers of The Economic and Social Cost of Type 2 Diabetes report - launched in Parliament today - are warning urgent Government action is needed to halt or even reverse that steep curve.