Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Health and Social Services.
I want to ask the Minister what specific public awareness initiatives are currently being delivered to help Northerners understand the risks, symptoms, and prevention strategies related to diabetes? Thank you.
Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, throughout the Northwest Territories, the health authorities lead this work. The department works with them and, you know, if there's funding that they can access through federal funding, that they obtain through that. However, the authorities have their health promotion arm where that is where community health representatives, public health, all of those different areas, primary care providers, so your first response to -- or your first access to care would be through your primary care provider. In the small communities, it would be your health centre nurse that would be able to diagnose chronic diseases. And in the Northwest Territories, you know, we have diabetes, we have heart disease, we have cancer, we have chronic airway disease, and there's many different areas that we're trying to focus on in providing the information to be able to provide the health promotion to the communities. Thank you.
Okay, Mr. Speaker, thank you. So if that is the case, then why diabetes and other chronic disease are on the rise if they are working, doing something about it though, in small communities. So I want to ask the Minister how much funding is being allocated directly to diabetes-specific awareness and prevention efforts, and how does the department determine the level of investment needed given that approximately 20 percent of NWT residents are affected? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there was a chronic disease framework that was completed. And to implement that, the department is currently -- in the proposed budget, there's some staffing resources in there to implement that budget. However, to get to more specifics, and because I knew that the question was coming, I broke it down for the Member for TCSA. So within each authority in each region, they all work with the communities to see what their priorities are. And within the TCSA, diabetes has been highlighted. And so to better -- TCSA is working collaboratively with the Tlicho government to increase diabetes awareness. So they are trying to address these gaps. And there has been some funding that has gone directly to support a diabetes land-based program for $150,000. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member for Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was speaking for the whole of the Northwest Territories. There's 9,400 people that are affected. I wasn't speaking specifically for Tlicho region, but thank you for the information.
So what new or upcoming policy measures, partnerships, or community-driven programs is the department pursuing to reduce diabetes rates and improve long-term outcomes for the approximately 9,400 residents, as I currently said, currently living with diabetes or pre-diabetes? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, within the whole of the territory, this is where primary care reform is the leading area of this. It's access to care. I've said it on the floor of this House many times, you know, we have the challenges over the years of access to care. And so people need to know how to access care and where is the appropriate -- and that's what implementing this framework is going to do for chronic disease management. It's going to give everyone a roadmap as to how to access the certain different areas in their region to be able to deal with these things. However, by accessing your primary care -- so if you're in a small community, if you're in -- you access your -- you know, go through your team, go through your nurse, they can make referrals to the dietician. There are community wellness programs that happen. They do prenatal programs for women that are pregnant in the communities. Public health goes out and does different education. There are programs within the school for kids. So there's multiple different arms of trying to improve living healthier lifestyles in the Northwest Territories, and that's through the health promotion arm of the -- or through the department and the authorities. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.
