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Type II Diabetes Prevention Curriculum View/Download PDF Version
To request a Word version of the
curriculum, please contact Kimberly Ferguson at: |
Diabetes Curriculum Background Information
The Diabetes Curriculum was a pilot project of the South Central Area Health Education Center conducted at Samuel Clemens High School in San Antonio. Its purpose was to increase public awareness of the impact of diabetes by integrating diabetes information into high school coursework. Such projects are especially important to the South Central AHEC because diabetes accounts for approximately 40 deaths per year for every 100,000 people in our region. Texas and U.S. rates overall are approximately half this. Diabetes is a disease in which the body either cannot produce enough insulin or cannot properly use the insulin that it has. Diabetes is "the silent killer." Many people do not know they have diabetes until they are stricken with one of its complications: blindness, kidney failure, heart disease, stroke, a leg amputation, etc. Ninety percent of all diabetes cases are Type II, or adult-onset diabetes. Normally, adult-onset diabetes doesn't occur until late middle age. The most frightening trend is that more and more young people 11-19 are developing Type II diabetes. This is thought to be due to obesity as a result of a sedentary lifestyle and a diet high in fat and sugar. The complications are serious and costly. We are providing the Diabetes Curriculum here for any schools that might want to incorporate diabetes information into their coursework. Lesson plans are offered in four different academic areas: science, math, English, and social studies. If students know how serious diabetes is and what causes it, they might be able to make the behavioral changes necessary to keep from getting it. Additional information about diabetes can be obtained from the American Diabetes Association. This project was supported by the Health Education Training Centers Alliance of Texas through Grant 6 D39-HP00006-12-01 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration.
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