26 August 2016 — The Philippine Consulate General held its fifth Talakayan sa Konsulado session for the year at the consular section of the Philippine Consulate General on August 22.  The activity was organized in coordination with the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA),

The fifth session of Talakayan took on the topic “Diabetes – A Dialogue on the Chronic Illness Burden Facing Filipinos”.

Philippine Consul General to San Francisco Henry S. Bensurto, Jr. welcomed the resource speakers and the Filipino-American Community to the Consulate General and informed both groups that the Talakayan is an ongoing series aimed at imparting relevant information on various topics affecting the community.

NaFFAA Chief Executive Officer for Region VIII, Mr. Rudy Asercion, NaFFAA Health and Wellness Director, Ms. Esther Aure, and University of California in San Francisco’s School of Nursing Assistant Professor, Dr. Melinda Bender, were among the event’s speakers.

Mr. Asercion expressed that they hoped to share information on scientific evidence on the accelerated development of diet-related chronic conditions in Filipinos.  She also said that the group wished to share their insights on solutions and how to effectively prevent and manage diet-related chronic conditions.

Ms. Aure provided practical information on the importance of adopting the habit of reading food labels and prioritizing exercise to keep oneself healthy.

Dr. Bender informed the Community of a study she is involved in measuring the incidence of Type 2 diabetes in the Filipino-American Community.  The study is the first of its kind as it focused solely on Filipinos.

According to her, nine percent of the total population of the United States has diabetes, but that the incidence in Filipino-Americans is at 16%.  This is almost twice as high as that of the US general population. 

She added that Type 2 diabetes is related to lifestyle and stressed the dangers of consuming high-fat foods and living a sedentary lifestyle.  She advised the Community to be more vigilant with their health, especially since Type 2 diabetes is preventable and treatable.

An open forum followed, where the Community was able to engage with the panelists and ask specific questions on diabetes.

Previous Talakayan topics include overseas registration and voting, medicare for the Filipino-American Community, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Program on World War II Filipino Veterans, and a discussion on Human Trafficking by ABS-CBN Foundation International. END