According to the definition of experts of the World Health Organization: “Diabetes mellitus is a problem of all ages and all countries.” (World Health Organization). Currently, diabetes mellitus (DM) ranks third among the direct causes of death after cardiovascular and oncological diseases, therefore, the solution to many issues related to this disease is put in many countries of the world at the state, and federal level (Forouhi & Wareham, 2019). Diabetes mellitus is seen as a primary healthcare issue that affects populations across the globe and necessitates the combination of a healthy lifestyle and medication to improve the quality of life of people who suffer from this disease. Currently, not all people have access to quality medication which results in excessive premature deaths, especially in the poor regions of the globe. Thus, reports show that only one person in five suffering from diabetes mellitus has access to insulin treatment in African countries (Kaiser et al, 2018).
A primary healthcare approach allows for “meeting people’s health needs throughout their lives” (World Health Organization). Internationally, this initiative is translated into the allocation of money and insulin medication to poorer regions of the globe where the situation with diabetes mellitus is far from being put under control (Galaviz et al., 2019). Another global initiative aimed at diminishing the risks of diabetes mellitus development includes the promotion of sports and a healthy lifestyle with an emphasis on a low-calorie diet and the fight against obesity (Khan et al., 2020). These initiatives are aimed at “addressing the broader determinants of health through multisectoral policy and action” (World Health Organization). WHO allocates money to those poor countries that are ready to embrace healthy lifestyle initiatives at a national level and engage in cross-governmental collaboration to tackle healthcare issues more effectively (Sun et al., 2022).
In the US, at a national level, the problem of extra weight connected to diabetes mellitus development is becoming more and more pronounced. Indeed, recent reports show that about 30% of the population has extra weight (Fryar et al., 2018). To address this issue, several primary healthcare strategies have been developed across the country. First of all, new official recommendations on healthy eating have been released. The innovations introduced in them are primarily aimed at combating obesity.
These innovations will generally become a guide to action for doctors and other healthcare professionals for the next 5 years. According to this initiative, manufacturers have the right to indicate the term “healthy” on the packaging if their products meet certain criteria (Nicolaidis, 2019). In addition, based on this guide, a school lunch menu is formed and a list of free products for the poor is compiled. Other initiatives comprise the promotion of a healthy lifestyle on TV and in the media, a ban on advertising high-calory food and food that contains a lot of fat and sugar, and engagement of children in sports sections across the country (Browne et al., 2018; Psaltopoulou et al., 2019).
References
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Galaviz, K. I., Weber, M. B., Straus, A., Haw, J. S., Narayan, K. V., & Ali, M. K. (2018). Global diabetes prevention interventions: a systematic review and network meta-analysis of the real-world impact on incidence, weight, and glucose.Diabetes Care, 41(7), 1526-1534.
Forouhi, N. G., & Wareham, N. J. (2019). Epidemiology of diabetes. Medicine, 47(1), 22-27.
Fryar, C. D., Carroll, M. D., & Ogden, C. L. (2018). Prevalence of overweight, obesity, and severe obesity among children and adolescents aged 2–19 years: United States, 1963–1965 through 2015–2016.
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Psaltopoulou, T., Tzanninis, S., Ntanasis-Stathopoulos, I., Panotopoulos, G., Kostopoulou, M., Tzanninis, I. G.,… & Sergentanis, T. N. (2019). Prevention and treatment of childhood and adolescent obesity: a systematic review of meta-analyses.World Journal of Pediatrics, 15(4), 350-381.
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World Health Organization. Primary Healthcare.