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Community co-design to target diabetes and metabolic syndrome in Australian Indigenous peoples

Nature Medicine volume 29, pages 292–293 (2023) Cite this article

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Diabetes mellitus is a chronic health condition in Australia1, and disproportionately affects Australian Indigenous communities. Metabolic syndrome includes conditions such as hypertension, dyslipidemia, abdominal obesity and insulin resistance2, and is responsible for earlier and more severe complications in individuals diagnosed with diabetes.

Diabetes mellitus contributes to 11% of all deaths in Australia, and costs the healthcare system (AUD)$2.7 million annually1. Australian Indigenous communities are disproportionately affected, with prevalence rates three times greater, hospitalization rates four times higher, and death due to complications five times more likely than in non-Indigenous Australians1. Over the past four decades, strategies to address diabetes have accepted that it is an inevitably progressive condition, with treatment aiming to slow progression and prevent harmful complications3. Most initiatives to treat this disease in Australian Indigenous communities have focused on nutrition, education or health promotion programs. However, rates of diabetes in Australian Indigenous communities are rising, which suggests that current approaches for detection, care and management are failing1,4. This leaves many Australian Indigenous communities feeling that a diagnosis of diabetes or metabolic syndrome is an unavoidable death sentence, creating a ripple effect beyond the individual, affecting the whole family and community. Ongoing loss of knowledge holders, such as Elders and senior leaders, generates innate cultural loss and disrupts the overall general health and wellbeing of the community, with knock-on effects that contribute to the persistent gap in health outcomes for Australian Indigenous communities.

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References

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the traditional lands in which this Correspondence was created and shaped (Kaurna Yerta, Ngarrindjeri Ruwe, Ngaiawang, Ngawait, Nganguruku, Erawirung, Ngintait, Ngaralte, Ngarkat, Luiseno, Cahuilla, Cupeno, Kumeyaay, and Northern Diegueño Nations) and pay respect to their Elders, past, present and emerging.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    C. Ryder, D. Cameron, P. Worley, B. Spaeth, S. Stranks, B. Kaambwa, S. Ullah & A. Wilson

  2. Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    C. Ryder, B. Spaeth, B. Kaambwa, S. Ullah & A. Wilson

  3. The George Institute for Global Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    C. Ryder

  4. School of Population Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    C. Ryder

  5. Riverland Mallee Coorong Local Health Network, South Australia Health, Murray Bridge, South Australia, Australia

    S. Wingard, D. Cameron & P. Worley

  6. Coorong Medical Centre, Meningie, South Australia, Australia

    C. Kerrigan

  7. Southern Adelaide Diabetes and Endocrine Services, South Australia Health, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    S. Stranks

  8. Department of NanoEngineering, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA

    J. Wang

Authors
  1. C. Ryder
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  2. S. Wingard
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  3. D. Cameron
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  4. C. Kerrigan
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  10. J. Wang
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  11. A. Wilson
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Correspondence to C. Ryder.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Ryder, C., Wingard, S., Cameron, D. et al. Community co-design to target diabetes and metabolic syndrome in Australian Indigenous peoples. Nat Med 29, 292–293 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-022-02174-7

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