Sharing a vision of hope for diabetes care and prevention among American Indian and Alaska Native communities: the National Diabetes Prevention Center.
The National Diabetes Prevention Center (NDPC) is an emerging model for public health practice and partnership. It is rooted in a "promising practices" framework, one that looks at what works for community diabetes prevention, care, and treatment practices. Working with national and local partners to explore new approaches to diabetes prevention invites us to move beyond traditional models of community public health partnerships. Traditional community partnership models emphasized the technical assistance in research, surveillance, and program development that can be provided by partners from outside the community. While not diminishing the importance of these activities, the NDPC seeks to provide an environment for meaningful language and discourse that adequately honors the innovative and culturally rich approaches to diabetes prevention already being developed within many American Indian and Alaska Native communities, which have some of the highest rates of diabetes in the world. The NDPC strives to provide common ground for the emergent discussions around the power and practice of solid evaluation frameworks, new information technologies, capacity-building philosophies, health systems, and collaborative approaches.
Pegler
JoAnne
J
National Diabetes Prevention Center, Program Development Branch, Division of Diabetes Translation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 506 West Route 66, Gallup, NM 87301, USA. jpegler@cdc.gov
DeBruyn
Lemyra
L
Burrows
Nilka Rios
NR
Gilbert
Elizabeth D
ED
Thompson
Janice L
JL
D000413:Alaska; D018672:Community Health Planning / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003256:Community Participation; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000208:ethnology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000628:therapy; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006694:Holistic Health; D006801:Humans; D007198:Indians, North American; D011209:Power, Psychological; D015980:Public Health Practice; D014481:United States