Diabetes Dateline
Winter 2009

NIDDK News

NIDDK-funded DETS Program Launches New Curriculum

Schools across the United States now have free access to an innovative set of teaching tools designed to increase the understanding of science, health, and type 2 diabetes among American Indian and Alaska Native students in kindergarten through the 12th grade. The comprehensive new curriculum, called “Health is Life in Balance,” was launched last November at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

The curriculum, a product of the Diabetes-based Science Education in Tribal Schools (DETS) program, integrates science and Native American traditions to educate students about science, type 2 diabetes and its risk factors, and the importance of nutrition and physical activity in maintaining health and balance in life.

Applying an inquiry-based approach to learning, the curriculum builds research skills in observation, measurement, prediction, experimentation, and communication. The project was developed with funding from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), part of the National Institutes of Health; the Indian Health Service (IHS); and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The rate of diagnosed diabetes in American Indians and Alaska Natives is two to three times higher than that of non-Hispanic whites. Nearly 17 percent of the total adult population served by the IHS has diagnosed diabetes. After adjusting for population age differences, diabetes rates vary from 6 percent among Alaska Native adults to 29 percent among American Indian adults in southern Arizona. Once seen only in adults, type 2 diabetes is increasingly being diagnosed in youth, especially in American Indian and other minority populations.

“Many people don’t know that type 2 diabetes can often be prevented by losing a modest amount of weight through diet and regular physical activity,” said NIDDK Director Griffin P. Rodgers, M.D., M.A.C.P. “We hope that this innovative, well-tested curriculum will reduce the rapidly rising incidence of type 2 diabetes in Native Americans by teaching young people about diabetes prevention.”

Curriculum materials were designed and extensively tested by staff from eight tribal colleges and universities who worked with 63 teachers and 1,500 students in schools across 14 states.

“This curriculum is an important step in educating American Indian and Alaska Native youth about preventing type 2 diabetes,” said Alvin Windy Boy, former chair of the Tribal Leaders Diabetes Committee, a group of elected tribal officials who advise the IHS on diabetes topics. “The materials are understandable, tailored for students at different grade levels, and make the concepts relevant to our lives and families.”

The curriculum units provide accurate, culturally tailored materials and lesson plans for more than 1,000 tribal schools on reservations and in public schools that have a sizable number of American Indian students.

“This curriculum can change perceptions and attitudes about diabetes and empower young people to adopt healthier lifestyles,” said Kelly Acton, M.D., M.P.H, IHS director of the Division of Diabetes Treatment and Prevention, which will oversee distribution to schools.

The IHS, the primary source of health care services to American Indians and Alaska Natives, provides comprehensive health services for about 1.9 million of the nation’s estimated 3.3 million American Indians and Alaska Natives.

To order free printed copies or CDs of the “Health is Life in Balance” curriculum, visit the IHS’s online catalog site at www.ihs.gov/MedicalPrograms/Diabetes/RESOURCES/Catalog/rde/index.cfm or call 505–248–182.

For information about diabetes, visit the NIDDK’s website at www.diabetes.niddk.nih.gov.

NIH Publication No. 09–4562
March 2009

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