Child & Youth Diabetes

2015: A strategy focusing on children and youth

In 2015, the Foundation renewed its overall Strategic Direction to focus its impact areas on the healthy development of children and youth. In that same year, the Foundation committed $1,200,000 over five years towards the Developmental Origins of Chronic Disease in Children Network (DEVOTION), a cluster of scientists, patients, policy makers and stakeholders whose aim is to address the burden and costs associated with chronic disease in Manitoba. The Lawson Foundation’s investment supports participation of an Indigenous scholar and three Indigenous community-based research coordinators. In 2016 and in concert with the new Strategic Direction, the Foundation launched the Child & Youth Diabetes Strategy to address the challenges faced by children, youth and their families with or at risk for diabetes and its complications. The Strategy’s goals are:

• To improve health outcomes for children and youth with type 1 or type 2 diabetes or who are at risk of developing diabetes and diabetes-related complications through prevention, treatment and improved self-management.
• To optimize the health of women with a history of gestational diabetes in order to help ensure the health of their offspring and families.
• To ensure equitable access to high-quality diabetes prevention, treatment and support programs and services for all children, youth and their families.

2017: Child & Youth Diabetes Cohort

The initiatives funded by the Child & Youth Diabetes Strategy seek to strengthen the delivery of programs and services by translating knowledge into clinical practice and community programming. They will pilot new community-based interventions, expand existing evidence-based programs, and create tools, resources and training to engage and support children and youth, parents, health professionals, teachers and school staff, community representatives and policy makers. All projects include an evaluation component and a plan for sharing results and learning. In keeping with the Strategy’s cohort approach, we will bring our grantees together periodically to share, learn and connect with each other and with other influencers in the field.

Projects are based in various settings – rural and First Nations communities, inner-city neighbourhoods, schools and clinics – and range in scope from local to regional to national. They serve high-risk, vulnerable populations including Indigenous communities, South Asian and other ethno-cultural populations, youth who are transitioning from pediatric to adult services, and families who are dealing with issues of poverty and food insecurity. Two remote Cree communities in northern Quebec and northwest central Manitoba are implementing initiatives to build their capacity to address diabetes in their communities. The Lawson Foundation believes it is important to support the work of these communities as part of the Foundation’s commitment to Reconciliation.

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