Industry-backed program asks how to make cities healthier
Diabetes is one of the most significant chronic diseases facing modern society, and despite progress being made in treating it, projections for diabetes in urban areas in particular is on the rise.
Approximately 3.5 million Canadians have the disease — a number that’s expected to climb to five million by 2025. In Vancouver alone, it’s estimated that the prevalence of diabetes among adults could increase from 9.4 per cent to 11.7 per cent by 2020. But that projection could change, and for the better. In November 2016, the city joined the Cities Changing Diabetes (CCD) global initiative, a global partnership program initiated by Novo Nordisk to bring urgent action against diabetes. (There are now 15 cities participating — and growing.)
Vancouver was the seventh city to join the consortium, working with partners that include Simon Fraser University (SFU), the City of Vancouver, and Diabetes Canada.
Cities play an integral role in combatting the rise in chronic diseases, says Dr. Scott Lear, professor of health sciences at SFU.
“Where we live plays a big role in our well-being, and every day you’re touched by something the city oversees, whether it’s garbage collection, transit, roads, the sidewalks we walk on or the public library,” Dr. Lear says. “The city can be either a barrier or a facilitator to good health.”
“This program isn’t just about innovative drugs, policy changes or education,” says Brian Hilberdink, president of Novo Nordisk Canada Inc. “It’s about bringing all stakeholders together to look at a problem through the same lens and work towards a common solution, including the public and private sectors, patient groups, academia and all levels of government.”
As the academic lead, the SFU team is focusing on two key areas: determining which people are most at risk from diabetes in terms of socio-economic, nutrition, genetic and predisposition factors; and understanding how the city’s environment and infrastructure (streets, zoning, local restaurants, health services) relate to diabetes risk.
“When correlated, this will give us a good idea of how we might move forward in designing communities and what things may be working, or not working,” Dr. Lear explains.
Mary Clare Zak, managing director, social policy and projects for the City of Vancouver, says with the research provided, the city is well-positioned to provide the tools that can contribute to the health and well-being of its residents in terms of planning, including access to parks and recreation, libraries, roads and transportation — all of which have an impact on human health.
“We often look to the health sector to solve our health problems where expenditures are going up,” she says. “Our work with CCD is around prevention. How can we look more upstream before chronic disease becomes a bigger problem?”
Working with CCD’s global community of cities also provides a number of opportunities for innovation, Dr. Lear adds. “While there are naturally some differences, we can compare and learn some very exciting things from working with different cities. The end goal is to create a tool kit that we can pass on to others, and that can be applied to different demographics and populations in a language and location they can relate to.”
But, says Dr. Lear, CCD’s impact won’t stop there. “There is no expiry date on this. What we’re doing is meant to have a lasting impact on our cities and residents. Diabetes was targeted because of the commonality of risk factors of lifestyle, behaviour, physical activity, nutrition and obesity. If we target those, we will be able to apply those findings to addressing other chronic conditions in the future.”