Far North Queensland have the highest rates of child diabetes in the world

Far North Queensland has the world’s highest rate of childhood diabetes with kids as young as five diagnosed. People in their 20s are losing limbs and the number of deaths in remote areas “exponentially growing”.

BADU ISLAND, TORRES STRAIT - Badu Island's cemetary looks over azure blue seas - PHOTO: CAMERON LAIRD

Far North Queensland has the world’s highest rate of childhood diabetes with kids as young as five diagnosed.

People in their 20s are losing limbs and the number of deaths in remote areas “exponentially growing”, experts say.

National Manager for Aboriginal and Torres Islander Engagement with Diabetes Australia​​​ Deanne Minniecon said the region was on par with remote Northern Territory communities.

“If you go to cemeteries in many places in the Torres Strait you see entire rows of graves of men in their 30s all from diabetes,” she said.

With expensive fresh food, a lack of clean drinking water, many homes without power and a life expectancy 56, Yarrabah’s bigger killer is type 2 diabetes. image: file photos

“One 20-year-old came to see me and I remember just how embarrassed she was about having to have a toe removed and all the mental health problems that came it. It just broke my heart,” she said.

“By the time she was 30 she died from diabetes. We are talking about this, but nobody is listening.”

Ms Minniecon is putting the disease in the spotlight as part of National Diabetes Week, which ends on Saturday.

Type 2 diabetes is the number one cause of death in isolated towns of Aurukun and Mornington Island, which have a life expectancy of 54 — lower than the poorest countries in the world.

On Mornington Island, in the Gulf of Carpentaria, food is 70 per cent more expensive than in Cairns with a trolley costing $1000 to fill.

Diabetes is also the leading cause of death in Doomadgee, Yarrabah and the Torres Strait.

In the Torres Strait residents can pay $20 a kilogram for beef mince and $12 for a head of lettuce.

Deanne minniecon says the level of childhood diabetes in the Far North is "completely unacceptable".

Health professionals in Yarrabah, a town with a life expectancy of 56, say diabetes rates are caused by healthy food costing three times more than in Cairns, as well as a lack of drinking water.

They also cite the prevalence of cheap deep-fried food at the town’s takeaway store and a high number of houses with no electricity meaning there is nowhere to store insulin.

Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service acting executive of medical services Dr Ineke Wever said there were 2743 active diabetes clients in Cape York, Torres Strait and Northern Peninsula communities — accounting for more than 20 per cent of the population (14,000).

That it is up to 40 per cent of people on some islands and certain Cape York communities.

Many Far North communities have limited to no access to drinkable water - with soft drink generally selling cheaper than bottled water.

Type 2 diabetes is the most prevalent form of diabetes where the body becomes resistant to insulin, 5 per cent of people have it nationally.

“If managed well, with healthy eating and weight, good exercise, and the right medications, people living with diabetes can live long and healthy lives,” Dr Wever said.

Lead of the Diabetes Across the Lifecourse Northern Australian Partnership, Associate Professor Renae Kirkham, said councils should do more to create walking spaces, sports and recreation and the availability of nutritious food in the community.

She also would like the state government to consider a food tax.

Dr Ineke Wever says that avoiding fatty and higher sugar food is part of an overall health plan that drastically reduce your chances of getting diabetes

Ms Minniecon said all levels of government needed to do more.

Food freight subsidies and government-funded introduced Continuous Glucose Monitors which allow diabetes patients to be more aware of what their blood sugar levels are, should also be considered.

“If people could see what those chips were doing to their blood sugar levels. I think they would very quickly realise how these foods are harming their health,” Ms Minniecon said.

“It is absolutely unacceptable that is going on in Australia — we keep talking about this, but nobody is listening.”

Originally published as Far North Queensland have the highest rates of child diabetes in the world