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A Māori screenwriter Aroha Awarau ays losing a toe to diabetes was the wake-up call he needed to change his lifestyle, and wants more Polynesians to do the same.
Type 2 diabetes is a silent killer among Polynesian youth, who are 18 times more likely to bediagnosed with the disease than other ethnic groups.
Awarau says diabetes is associated with lifestyle and diet and people feel too ashamed to talk about it.
He ignored his own diagnosis until the amputation three years ago, and then realised the trajectory his life was heading on was not a good one.
”It’s going to be more toes, maybe a foot, maybe a leg, blindness, all those things that just can’t be avoided if you don’t take care of your health, and that was my wake-up call to do something about it,” Awarau said.
As well as making wholesale lifestyle changes to manage and overcome diabetes, he dropped about 30kg.
Aroha Awarau's amputation made him change his lifestyle. Photo / Supplied
Awarau has also appeared in public information campaigns and is directing a documentary for Sunpix production, Maisuka, aimed at Pasifika youth and type 2 diabetes.
It is being produced by Ngaire Fuata and Stephen Sethlin, of Sunpix, and will be released this year.
He said the stories are real life.
“It’s been eye opening to me. I interviewed a 26-year-old Samoan father of three, who is now blind because of diabetes,” Awarau said.
“After interviewing him for the doco, I realized how important this doco is because his blindness is going to impact his future, and it could have been prevented. It’s a cautionary tale for our Pasifika people, who are mostly impacted by type 2 diabetes.”
A Māori-Niuean-Samoan, Awarau was a prime target to get diabetes. Last week he discovered the change in lifestyle three years ago has reversed his type 2 diabetes.
Meanwhile, a pilot of a continuous monitoring device for Māori living with diabetes in Taranaki significantly reduced their blood glucose levels and gave them tino rangatiratanga over their hauora.
In the six-month pilot, 40 patients had a Freestyle Libre device fitted in their arm.
It allowed them to collect their own data, either on a reader or on an app, and share it with their clinical nurse specialist.
Project manager Carly Innes, of Te Whatu Ora Taranaki, says as well as bringing their blood glucose levels back under control, the people re-engaged with health services and learned to make adjustments to their diet, medication and exercise.
