Manitoba's Mental Health and Community Wellness Minister, Janice Morley-Lecomte, has announced the launch of the Manitoba Diabetes Action Plan (MDAP), a five-year plan to improve prevention, detection, management and surveillance programming for type 1, type 2 and gestational diabetes.
Manitoba is the first province to release a provincial diabetes strategy that aligns with the Framework for Diabetes in Canada.
“With this action plan, Manitoba has taken an important step toward tackling the rising rates of diabetes in the province,” says Laura Syron, President & CEO of Diabetes Canada. “As it is brought to life, this plan has the potential to improve the lives of the almost half a million people living with diabetes or prediabetes in Manitoba. It harnesses the best practices and approaches laid out in the federal government’s Framework and is an excellent example of how provincial and federal agencies can work collaboratively to improve health outcomes for all Canadians.”
Diabetes Canada applauds the government for continuing to drive progress, as this plan comes a few months following the province’s expanded coverage for insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors.
These investments come at a critical time as Diabetes Canada estimates that in 2023 diabetes and its complications will cost the Manitoba health-care system $157 million with 80 per cent of this cost attributed to treating diabetes-related complications.
Diabetes Canada encourages all provincial and territorial governments to implement a diabetes strategy to reverse the increasing trajectory of prevalence and cost of diabetes in Canada. We look forward to working with the government of Manitoba as it implements the Diabetes Action Plan over the next five years.