HOUSE MEMORIAL 53

54th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2020

INTRODUCED BY

Patricia A. Lundstrom and Anthony Allison and D. Wonda Johnson and Derrick J. Lente and Harry Garcia

 

 

 

 

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING GOVERNOR MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM TO DECLARE NOVEMBER 14, 2020 "WORLD DIABETES DAY" IN NEW MEXICO.

 

     WHEREAS, world diabetes day was created in 1991 by the international diabetes federation and the world health organization in response to growing concerns about the escalating health threat posed by diabetes; and

     WHEREAS, world diabetes day became an official United Nations day in 2006 with the passage of United Nations Resolution 61/225; and

     WHEREAS, the goal of the "war on diabetes" is to promote healthy lifestyle choices through healthy eating and daily exercise and to bring awareness to prediabetes and diabetes symptoms; and

     WHEREAS, world diabetes day is marked every year on November 14, the birthday of Sir Frederick Banting, who co-discovered insulin along with Charles Best in 1922; and

     WHEREAS, world diabetes day is the world's largest diabetes awareness campaign, reaching a global audience of over one billion people in more than one hundred sixty countries, and the campaign draws attention to issues of paramount importance to the diabetes world and keeps diabetes firmly in the public and political spotlight; and

     WHEREAS, nearly twenty-seven thousand people on the Navajo Nation are affected by diabetes, statistics indicate that as many as one in four members of the Navajo Nation are diabetic or prediabetic and American Indian and Alaska Native persons are at high risk for diabetes mellitus; and

     WHEREAS, on world diabetes day in 2019, the Navajo Nation president and vice president issued a "war on diabetes" proclamation declaring war to combat diabetes on the Navajo Nation through awareness and prolonged healthy lifestyle choices using the Navajo way of life teaching; and

     WHEREAS, in New Mexico, the diabetes prevention and control program is administered by the population and community health bureau in the public health division of the department of health; and

     WHEREAS, the diabetes prevention and control program works on specific diabetes efforts that address both the prevention and management of diabetes, and populations served are adults with type 2 diabetes, adults with prediabetes or otherwise at high risk for type 2 diabetes and those with related chronic conditions, such as heart disease and high blood pressure; and

     WHEREAS, paths to health NM: tools for healthier living is an initiative of the diabetes prevention and control program that includes programs that support prevention or management of diabetes and other chronic health conditions or injuries; and

     WHEREAS, the federal centers for disease control and prevention defines "prediabetes" as a serious health condition in which blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be diagnosed as type 2 diabetes; and

     WHEREAS, more than five hundred sixty-five thousand New Mexicans have prediabetes out of the estimated two million people in the state, and, if left untreated, type 2 diabetes can be accompanied by heart disease, blindness, kidney failure, amputation and early death;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham be requested to declare November 14, 2020 "World Diabetes Day" in New Mexico; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the governor and the secretary of health.

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