As rates of diabetes and urbanization rise together, advances in medicine will not be enough to slow the spread of the disease, but instead, cities will have to make concerted population health efforts, Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen writes in an op-ed for the Harvard Business Review.
Mr. Jørgensen is the CEO of the Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk. He argues there are three steps cities can take to help curb the rising rates of diabetes.
Here are Mr. Jørgensen's three recommendations.
1. Focus on childhood eliminating obesity by encouraging healthy diets and exercise, which could help prevent type 2 diabetes.
2. Understand cultural and social factors that lead to diabetes, such as employment status and commute times. Deeper research into the most vulnerable groups will allow cities to better target prevention efforts.
3. Draw on proven practices, including partnerships with community organizations and urban planning, to find creative ways in which leaders can engage the issue of diabetes.