NOTING PREVALENCE OF DIABETES IN MISSISSIPPI,
COCHRAN SAYS GREATER INDIVIDUAL ACTION NEEDED TO BATTLE DISEASE
 
November is American Diabetes Month, National “Stop Diabetes” Campaign Launched

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) today called attention to the greater need for individuals to take action to prevent or treat diabetes in Mississippi, a state whose population now deals with increasing rates of the incurable disease.

Cochran addressed the diabetes issue as the nation embarks on American Diabetes Month, an annual event to focus attention on an illness that today afflicts 24 million children and adults.  Another 57 million Americans are at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

As part of this year’s commemoration, the American Diabetes Association has launched a “Stop Diabetes” campaign to provide Americans with information on how to prevent, treat and manage diabetes.

“Diabetes already affects too many Mississippians and there is a serious concern that new generations will suffer at even greater rates,” Cochran said.

“The Stop Diabetes campaign offers useful information to folks about how they can take action themselves to battle this disease.  These actions can be personal or they can be related to the broader ongoing quest to find better treatments and a cure.  I believe it is worthwhile for everyone to learn more about diabetes,” he said.

Diabetes rates in Mississippi range from a low of 8.3 percent of all Rankin County adults (20 years and older) to an estimated 14.5 percent in Holmes County, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) National Diabetes Surveillance System.  Overall, diabetes affected almost 11 percent of the adult population in Mississippi in 2007, up from about 6 percent in 1997.

In addition, the ADA indicates that for Mississippi in 2006, the total cost of diabetes care cost $1.23 billion in excess medical costs and $533 million in lost productivity.

Cochran is currently the ranking Republican on the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (Labor-HHS) Appropriations Subcommittee that has produced a spending measure that would provide $5.0 million to expand the CDC’s background community assessment of health and related social and environmental conditions in the Mississippi Delta Region.

The FY2010 Labor-HHS Appropriations Bill, which awaits debate by the full Senate, recognizes that “The Mississippi Delta Region experiences some of the nation’s highest rates of chronic diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity, heart disease and stroke.  The Committee recognizes the CDC’s expertise in implementing research programs to prevent the leading causes of death and disability.”

Overall, the Senate’s FY2010 Labor-HHS Appropriations Bill (HR.3293) recommends providing almost $66.0 million to address diabetes prevention and control, public health surveillance, and improving clinical and public health practices related to the disease.  This funding level is equal to the President’s budget request.

The Senate bill also recommends $1.79 billion for the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to advance research on the diabetes, including research on the relationship between kidney disease in relation to diabetes, hypertension and obesity.

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