The IHS Division of Diabetes Treatment and Prevention (DDTP) is pleased to announce the release of the Special Diabetes Program for Indians (SDPI) Diabetes Prevention and Healthy Heart Toolkits. The toolkits will help American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities implement local programs to prevent diabetes and reduce cardiovascular disease risk.
The SDPI Diabetes Prevention (DP) Toolkit is based on the National Institutes of Health’s Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) research, which showed that losing a small amount of weight through lifestyle changes, can help prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes in diverse populations – including Native people. The DP toolkit will assist programs who wish to implement their own diabetes prevention strategies. The modules in this toolkit provide keys to success and lessons learned from 38 SDPI DP grant programs, including their suggestions on how to incorporate local traditions and cultures. Through the use of videos, case studies and real life examples, the DP toolkit provides information that will help tribes create and sustain their own programs.
The SDPI Healthy Heart (HH) Toolkit was created to reduce the risk factors for cardiovascular disease, which is the leading cause of death in AI/AN people, especially those with diabetes. The 30 SDPI HH grantees implemented an intensive case management intervention in Native communities that helped reduce patients’ cardiovascular disease risk by controlling blood pressure; improving cholesterol levels; and encouraging positive behaviors such as tobacco avoidance, increasing physical activity, and eating healthy foods more often. By integrating these types of interventions into patients’ clinical care, programs can help reduce cardiovascular disease risk in individuals both with and without diabetes. This toolkit shares the SDPI HH grantees' strategies, approaches and examples of tools and materials useful for implementing a cardiovascular disease risk reduction program.
DDTP would like to thank the SDPI DP/HH grantees for sharing their experiences so that others will benefit. It is hoped that other communities will use the toolkits to implement their own innovative strategies to reduce diabetes and cardiovascular disease risk – and create healthier futures for American Indian and Alaska Native people.
For more information, visit the Division of Diabetes Treatment and Prevention page.
Dr. Ann Bullock is the Director of the IHS Division of Diabetes Treatment and Prevention. DDTP provides information and resources to strengthen clinical, public health, and community approaches for diabetes treatment and prevention in AI/AN communities throughout the United States.
