HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	312
TWENTY-SIXTH LEGISLATURE, 2011
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

requesting that a diabetes RESEARCH task force be established to study prevention strategies, track policy changes and report TO THE LEGISLATURE with recommended actions FOR HALTING THE PROGRESSION OF PRE-DIABETES.

     WHEREAS, WHEREAS, the 2010 Hawaii Diabetes Plan states that more than 110,000 persons in Hawaii have diabetes and that approximately 39,000 of said persons do not yet know of their illness; and

     WHEREAS, the Center for Disease Control estimates that 41 million people have pre-diabetes nationwide, it is prudent to note that population studies have found that amongst persons who have been diagnosed with diabetes, a variety of risk factors compound to make the development of cardiovascular disease two to four times more likely, with heart disease and stroke causing 65 percent of deaths, ultimately propelling diabetes to be deemed the seventh leading cause of death in Hawaii; and

     WHEREAS, diabetes is the leading cause of an array of emotionally and fiscally disconcerting health problems and the origin of annual change in the number of persons with kidney disease, eye disease and amputations which have in turn resulted in: 40,000 new cases of kidney failure, 12,000-24,000 new cases of blindness, and 82,000 non-traumatic limb amputations; and

     WHEREAS, the most acute complications of diabetes often result from uncontrolled or unmanaged cases of diabetes, some of which could have been prevented, delayed or reduced in scope through the appropriate application of evidence-based strategies for lifestyle behavior modification; and

     WHEREAS, the Hawaii Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey has found that nearly 80 percent of diabetes diagnoses are found in cases involving overweight and obese individuals,  when, in conjunction with the finding that adults with diabetes were overweight and obese considerably more often than their counterparts, suggests a strong link between lifestyle and the development of diabetes; and

     WHEREAS, there currently exists within the Department of Health the Diabetes Prevention and Control Program, which includes the Hawaii Diabetes Coalition and the Hawaii Diabetes Task Force; and

     WHEREAS, the existing Hawaii Diabetes Task Force is designed to meet on a biennial basis, with the sole intended purpose of reviewing, and revising as needed the Hawaii State Practice Recommendations for healthcare professionals; and

     WHEREAS, it is acknowledged that research programs throughout the nation are reporting alarming trends in diabetes data, largely concurring that a significant portion of negative outcomes associated with the illness were preventable, the State of Hawaii must allocate more time, attention and effort to the analysis of pre-diabetes data; and

     WHEREAS, the University of Hawaii is a globally recognized research institution that boasts students from both ethnically and academically diverse origins, who demonstrate concern for their community and a choice to pursue a career consistent with the intellectual demands of serving on a designated research task force; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-sixth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2011, the Senate concurring, that the Hawaii Pre-Diabetes Research Task Force is created within the University of Hawaii, and shall exist as a five member task force, comprised of one graduate student representative from each of the following departments; the John A. Burns School of Medicine, the Department of Psychology, the Department of Political Science, the Department of Public Health and the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the graduate student representatives who serve on the Hawaii Pre-Diabetes Research Task Force shall do so without compensation, and for a length of time not to exceed the termination of active graduate student status; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Hawaii Pre-Diabetes Research Task Force prepare a report on these efforts and submit their findings to the Legislature no less than twenty days prior to its convening in 2013; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to all program departments within the University of Hawaii, the Governor of the State of Hawaii, the Director of the State Department of Health, the Director of the State Department of Human Services, the Director of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the American Cancer Society and the President of the Hawaii Association of Health Plans.

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title: 

Relating to diabetes research.