MP Sidhu highlights organizations working to improve diabetes management, healthy eating

Brampton – Sonia Sidhu, Member of Parliament from Brampton South, has been conducting Canada-wide consultations on healthy eating and diabetes in addition to visiting leading healthcare organizations across the country. Most recently, MP Sidhu has had the chance to review the innovative mobile apps being developed by the Global Centre for eHealth Innovation in Toronto.

Across Canada, 11 million people have either diabetes or pre-diabetes. The number of people to be impacted by diabetes is growing at an alarming rate and will place a heavy burden on Canada’s health care system in the future, whether through costs related to direct care of diabetes or the potential need for amputation in diabetic patients suffering from diabetic foot ulcers.

To improve health-care options for patients suffering from diabetes, bant, developed by eHealth Innovation, allows for the self-management of Type I and Type II diabetes. With support in 11 different languages, bant focuses in on accommodating patients of all ages and ethnicities and allows for at-risk populations to manage their diabetes.

Surrounding the discussion of mobile health, improved health-care options, and the management of diabetes with new technologies, MP Sidhu was briefed on eHealth Innovation’s other projects focusing on kidney disease, high blood pressure, heart failure, mental health, and cancer survivorship.

“The work being done by eHealth is important to make Canada competitive on the international field, and for Canada to take a leadership role in the management and fight against diabetes” stated MP Sidhu. “As the Chair of the All-Party Diabetes Caucus and a former healthcare professional, it is exciting to see Canadian organizations are deploying solutions that are free to the public while still making strides in the emerging field of mobile health”.

MP Sonia Sidhu is part of the Standing Committee on Health and is currently leading consultations on healthy eating and diabetes management.

The Global Centre for eHealth Innovation is a research institute part of the University Health Network and one of the few institutes devoted to eHealth in the world, combining research and expertise to develop health technologies.