CANBERRA, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government has launched a new national plan to reduce the incidence and impacts of diabetes.

The National Diabetes Strategy 2021-2030, which was released by Health Minister Greg Hunt on Sunday, outlines how the government will "drive real improvements" in the prevention, detection and treatment of diabetes.

More than 17,000 Australians died from diabetes-related illnesses in the last 12 months.

Diabetes is a group of metabolic disorders that result in too much glucose in the blood. Type two diabetes, which affects the way the body processes glucose, accounts for approximately 90 percent of cases.

According to local media, 1.9 million Australians suffer from diabetes, a 30-percent increase in the past eight years.

An additional 2 million people have pre-diabetes, putting them at high risk of developing type two diabetes in the short-term future.

"Diabetes has a significant, and often preventable, impact on the health and wellbeing of the Australian population," the strategy said.

"Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples experience a disproportionate share of the burden of diabetes."

The new plan was released to coincide with World Diabetes Day and the 100th anniversary of the discovery of insulin, which can be injected to manage blood sugar.

Greg Johnson, chief executive of Diabetes Australia, said that 58 percent of type two diabetes cases can be prevented or delayed with proper education and management.

"As a nation, we've been very pre-occupied with the impact and risks of COVID, meanwhile the serious impacts of the growing diabetes epidemic have continued," he told state broadcaster SBS.

"Diabetes is particularly devastating for First Nations Australians and communities and it is a major contributor to the gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians." Enditem

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