Young poets launch social justice campaign against diabetes

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The rate of diabetes in increasing among teenagers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Photo courtesy of New America Media.

Amidst rising rates of diabetes in teenagers, youth are leading a new campaign to combat the social and environmental factors that created the epidemic.

“This campaign is more about the social determinants of the disease,” said Sarah Fine, project director for the Youth Speaks UCSF Public Health Literacy Project. “We want to change the conversation to what are the social forces exacerbating the epidemic and what can we do to affect change.”

A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, published in the May 21 issue of the Journal of American Academy of Pediatrics, revealed that 1 in 4 youth between the ages of 12 and 19 have pre-diabetes, versus 1 in 11 a decade ago.

Even more alarming is the finding that 50 percent of youth are at a greater risk for developing diabetes within the next five years.

And according to the American Diabetes Association, Type 2 diabetes, which is the most common form of the disease, is more prevalent among African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders.

June 5, marked the kickoff of the Bigger Picture, a youth-led campaign organized through the San Francisco-based nonprofit, Youth Speaks and UCSF’s Center for Vulnerable Populations to raise awareness about the disease.

Read the complete story at New America Media. 

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