DEVELOPING Latest updates on the major wildfires burning in Canada
The 2024 wildfire season has begun, and it's shaping up to follow last year's unprecedented destruction in kind, with thousands of square kilometres already consumed.
The Public Health Agency of Canada announced on Monday nearly $1 million in funding to support Diabetes Canada’s initiatives across the country.
The funding comes as a global study published last week reported that diabetes cases are expected to soar from 529 million to 1.3 billion worldwide by 2050.
“Unfortunately, we are seeing that kind of progression here in Canada,” Laura Syron, CEO and president of Diabetes Canada, told CTVNews.ca on Tuesday.
Approximately 3.6 million Canadians were living with diabetes from 2019 to 2020 and more than 200,000 new cases are diagnosed each year, according to Health Canada.
Syron explained the $998,450 will be spread out across three years to advance the Framework for Diabetes in Canada by bringing partners from across the country to share best practices in their respective health-care systems – drug coverage, preventative measures, screening.
As the number of diabetes cases are projected to skyrocket in Canada and worldwide in the coming years, one question stands out, is the Canadian health-care system ready?
Harpreet Bajaj, endocrinologist and director of late-phase research at LMC Healthcare, told CTVNews.ca the answer is no.
“I don’t think it is ready. Even with the cases that we have, (the system) is being stretched,” he told CTVNews.ca on Tuesday.
“We don’t have the tools or the manpower.”
Bajaj said to address rising diabetes cases and the fragile health-care system, more digital solutions should be implemented to reduce current limitations.
“We got to think outside the box, as well, and have more public education on prevention, of all kinds, on social media,” he said.
According to Diabetes Canada, Ontario has the most people in the country diagnosed with diabetes at 4.8 million. British Columbia is the second highest with just over 1.6 million, followed by Alberta with nearly 1.3 million cases.
There are a few factors contributing to the rising number of diabetes cases in Canada, from the country's aging population to lifestyle choices and access to healthy food, said Syron.
“How can we make sure people who have been diagnosed have the best quality of life if they can’t afford healthy food? 'Cause food affordability has changed. Or medication or new technology, if that’s not accessible financially for them,” she said.
Genetics also play a role in diabetes diagnosis. As the country’s population increases, people who have a healthy lifestyle and eat well can also get diagnosed if they have a hereditary factor.
“I think there’s a lot of stigma and misunderstanding about diabetes,” said Syron, who has diabetes and often felt “guilty or judged” as people think it is just a byproduct of eating habits or lack of movement.
Within the coming months, Diabetes Canada says it will be launching a survey to gauge the population’s perspective and experience with the disease and address the stereotypes around it.
Then there’s COVID, added Syron explaining how the pandemic affected both people’s activity level, and delayed their access to a primary health care provider.
“Unfortunately what we are seeing is people who are much further progressed with their diabetes and miss that window of opportunity (for a doctor) to say, ‘Hey you might be pre-diabetic,’” she said.
According to Angus Reid data released in 2022, one-third of Canadians aren’t able to see their doctor within a week, while another 17 per cent have been unable to find a doctor at all despite their efforts. The report also stated more than six million people in Canada don’t have a family doctor.
Bajaj suggests people take a short online test called CANRISK to screen themselves at home if they are unable to get blood tests or see a health practitioner.
In San Diego, California at the 83rd American Diabetes Association conference, Bajaj presents the clinical developments of ICODEC – an investigational once-weekly basal insulin that could change the status quo of daily doses for diabetic people.
“It’s been over 100 years since insulin was discovered in 1920. We’ve come a long way,” he said.
The development, if approved, would reduce a diabetic person’s scheduled injections from daily to weekly. Bajaj is hoping it will be approved by Health Canada and publicly available by this time next year.
Additionally there has also been a paradigm shift in weight management medicine.
“There was new research that the ADA presented. Newer pharmacotherapy agents may actually lead to about the same amount of weight loss as bariatric surgery,” said Bajaj.
Some people with type 2 diabetes opt for the weight-loss surgery, however many shy away from it “because of its permanent and invasive nature,” he explained.
Diabetes is a complex disease and affects multiple parts of the body leading to heart attacks, strokes, kidney diseases, non-traumatic limb amputation and can even cause blindness, according to Bajaj.
The findings from this research are changing diabetes guidelines' priorities and proving, with the right medication in the right patient, there can be added protection against complications of type 2 diabetes, he said.
A previous version of this article described the ICODEC as an insulin pump, when it is in fact a basal treatment.
The 2024 wildfire season has begun, and it's shaping up to follow last year's unprecedented destruction in kind, with thousands of square kilometres already consumed.
Veteran TSN broadcaster Darren 'Dutch' Dutchyshen, one of Canada’s best-known sports journalists, has died. He was 57. His family says 'he passed as he was surrounded by his closest loved ones.'
A ‘lifetime of abuse’ led Dallas Ly to snap and repeatedly stab his mother inside their Leslieville apartment in 2022 but he never intended to kill her, his defence lawyers argued during at his murder trial in Toronto on Thursday.
A burgeoning track star says his dream of going to the Olympics is being derailed by a deportation order after Immigration officials rejected his family’s claim for asylum
A father has been charged with second-degree murder in the stabbing death of his 34-year-old daughter in southern Quebec.
A medical examiner says a Massachusetts teen who participated in a spicy tortilla chip challenge died from ingesting a substance 'with a high capsaicin concentration.'
A Montreal father who kidnapped his daughter who has autism and lied to police when they asked where she was should serve three years in prison, a Crown prosecutor said.
The province’s health minister and solicitor general are urging Toronto to rescind its request to decriminalize simple possession of small amounts of drugs for personal use, calling the proposal 'misguided' and 'disastrous.'
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he has "issues" with the Progressive Conservative government of New Brunswick.
A Starbucks fan — whose name is Winter — is visiting Canada on a purposeful journey that began with a random idea at one of the coffee chain's stores in Texas.
Members of Piapot First Nation, students from the University of Winnipeg and various other professionals are learning new techniques that will hopefully be used for ground searches of potential unmarked grave sites in the future.
ALS patient Mathew Brown said he’s hopeful for future ALS patients after news this week of research at Western University of a potential cure for ALS.
When Adam Kirschner wrote 'Slap Shot,' he never imagined the song would be embraced by his favourite team.
A team is ready to help an entangled North Atlantic right whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
A $200 reward is being offered by a North Vancouver family for the safe return of their beloved chicken, Snowflake.
Two daughters and a mother were reunited online 40 years later thanks to a DNA kit and a Zoom connection despite living on three separate continents and speaking different languages.
Mother's Day can be a difficult occasion for those who have lost or are estranged from their mom.
YES Theatre Young Company opened its acclaimed kids’ show, One Small Step, at Sudbury Theatre Centre on Saturday.