It’s Time for a Change

Fast Facts about Diabetes in Louisiana

Well-Ahead Louisiana empowers leaders in key organizations across the state to take an active role in the fight against diabetes in our communities. By making healthy living easy and accessible to residents at risk for or living with type 2 diabetes, we can move Louisiana’s health forward.

Family, food and fun makes life in Louisiana hard to beat. And our lifestyle has a big impact on our overall health. Health risk behaviors like poor diet, physical inactivity and tobacco use, as well as limited access to healthcare, cause our state to lead the nation in statistics for chronic diseases like diabetes.

1 in 3

Louisiana residents were estimated to have prediabetes in 2017¹

15% of Louisiana residents have diabetes,2 which can fill the Superdome

10X

In 2017, prediabetes cost Louisiana

$4.9 billion3

20%

of Black Louisiana residents have diabetes compared to 13% of white Louisiana residents²


Working Towards Change: Our Approach

Reducing the Burden of Diabetes in Louisiana

If we want to have the greatest health impact possible in our communities, we must work together. Everyone has a role to play in reducing the burden of diabetes in our state. We work to ensure our residents have access to quality health services for diabetes management and prevention by training and educating healthcare professionals on best practices and building connections between the community and clinical sector. Organization leaders in our communities can also build environments that encourage healthy habits that help prevent and manage diabetes where our residents live, work, learn, play and pray. 

By focusing on connecting community organizations to evidence-based resources, we can empower leaders to implement healthy policy, systems and environmental changes and ensure access to quality health services. 

Citations

1 American Diabetes Association, 2019. https://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/42/9/1661.article-info

2 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), 2022.

3 American Diabetes Association, 2019. https://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/42/9/1661.figures-only


Success Stories


Local leaders dedicated to helping prevent and manage diabetes in our communities are moving Louisiana’s health forward.

Better Health through Better Understanding

Better Health through Better Understanding

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