Press Release
March 22, 2012
Rep. Susan Davis Leads Call for Strong Action on Diabetes
Prevention
WASHINGTON – With 79 million Americans at risk of developing type 2 diabetes, Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-San Diego) and Rep. Reid Ribble (R-WI) led an effort in the House to provide robust funding for a key diabetes prevention effort, the National Diabetes Prevention Program (NDPP).
“Diabetes is a serious and costly disease,” said Davis. “With the help of the NDPP, diabetes prevention programs are active in 275 sites in 30 states providing the necessary knowledge to help people make the healthy choices necessary to prevent diabetes. Diabetes is a disease that is manageable and preventable when the right programs have the funds they need.”
In a letter to House appropriators, Davis and Ribble urged the allocation of at least $10 million for the NDPP at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to further its goal of preventing type 2 diabetes. The letter received the signatures of over 70 members of the House of Representatives.
Complications from diabetes can include blindness, cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, nerve damage, stroke, and loss of life.
According to research done by the American Diabetes Association, the total cost of diabetes for Davis’s congressional district is $402 million. This estimate includes $277 million in medical costs and $124 million in lost productivity.
The creation of the NDPP, authorized by the health care reform bill, was pushed by Davis based on her legislation, the Diabetes Prevention Act of 2009.
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