Diabetes programs work to raise awareness in target groups By Michelle Gannon

With 250,000 to 350,000 residents diagnosed with diabetes, South Carolina ranks third in the nation for rates of diabetes, the seventh leading cause of death in South Carolina. The South Carolina Diabetes Prevention and Control Program and the Diabetes Initiative of South Carolina (DSC) are two organizations created to helping the residents of South Carolina prevent diabetes, or live with diabetes. Both organizations use various media outlets to spread their message throughout the state. "We try to find anyway we can to reach people, and to give them as much information as we can," Barbara Wright Downs, the community liaison with the SC DPCP, said. Downs said her organization targets adult African Americans who have or could have diabetes, or who care for someone with the disease. She said they use mostly print media to reach their target audience, such as local newspapers and the IMARA Woman magazine, "the only statewide magazine targeting women of color in South Carolina," according to the SC DPCP’s Web site. "The IMARA magazine, a lifestyle and personal growth magazine that comes out every other month and targets moderate to medium income women, is a very good source," Downs said. "Women love to read beauty magazines, and it also has health in it." Downs said the magazine helps increase exposure of African American women to information and programs that promote diabetes awareness, prevention and control. The American Diabetes Association reported 3.7 million, or 14.7 percent, of all African Americans 20 years old or older have diabetes, and that African Americans are 1.6 times more likely to have diabetes than non Hispanic whites. Since South Carolina is 29 percent African American, according to the Census Bureau, Downs said it is important the SC DPCP raises awareness among them since "statistically they have a larger number of diabetes diagnoses." Downs said other methods used by the SC DPCP to target the African American community include radio talk shows, usually on gospel stations, church bulletins, and even church fans, with the "10 Commandments of Diabetes" on them. Despite the SC DPCP’s commitment to finding creative ways to reach its audience, Downs said funding is always an issue. "Our challenge is always money," Downs said. "We'd love to go on television, and even getting on the gospel stations is hard. We can usually afford AM stations, but not FM." Carolyn M. Jenkins, board chair of the DSC, said her organization, whose goal is to help reduce complications and cost burdens for South Carolinians who suffer from diabetes and to develop and implement state community outreach programs, is struggling to use the media. "We are not very effective with using the media other than our Web site to achieve our goals," Jenkins said. "However, we do news releases about the burden of diabetes in South Carolina and activities, especially continuing education programs. The biggest success we had was the news conference when we released the latest Burden of Diabetes Report. Media coverage was great and people responded with seeking information about how to better manage their diabetes." Both organizations found it difficult to encourage the public to find out more information about diabetes. "Another challenge is to get people to read the ads, and to get people interested in finding out what they can do to get better," Downs said. Another at-risk group is the overweight population. According to the Census Bureau, 28.4 percent of South Carolinians are overweight, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 83 percent of those overweight in South Carolina have diabetes. "We have a major problem in caring for people with diabetes in South Carolina," reads the 2003 Burden of Diabetes Report from the state Department of Health and Environmental Control. "A major factor is the increasing prevalence of the disease, which may be primarily due to an alarming increase in overweight or obese people." As the number of people with diabetes increases, especially among younger generations, Downs thinks people's attitude towards the disease will change. "Now that they are seeing more and more young people with diabetes, a disease people used to think affected old people, things are starting to change," Downs said. "With more and more 10 and 12 year olds with diabetes, and not because of genetics, people are going to want more information and that is going to turn the tide towards people wanting to learn more about diabetes to prevent it. It's going to make a difference and make a more a health conscious community in the future."