Preventing type 2 diabetes: public health campaigns should focus on living longer better

Valabhji and Kar say that the rise in type 2 diabetes shows that prevention is more important than ever.1This powerful message needs action but it may be that only focusing on type 2 diabetes will not engage the public—it is only one campaign alongside many others about many other conditions, such as heart disease. Furthermore, these conditions share many of the same risk factors and often act as risk factors for one another. The risk factors that relate to type 2 diabetes increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, and the condition that many people fear most—dementia. A public campaign about reducing one’s risk of multimorbidity is also unlikely to be successful: multimorbidity is a term disliked by many people—I have four conditions but do not feel multimorbid.We need one campaign focused on what life will be like in the later years. People want increased healthy life expectancy; the trend,…
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