Researcher To Study History Of Native Diabetes

Researcher To Study History Of Native Diabetes

Tuesday, April 08, 2008 at 14:55

A University of Saskatchewan professor will spend at least the next two years studying how Type Two diabetes emerged as such a problem in the First Nations population in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Paul Hackett received a grant that will enable him to set up a research lab.

He says he will mostly be looking at archival documents from the federal and provincial governments, the Hudson’s Bay Company, missionaries’ accounts, and published diaries.

Hackett will look at the time period from the Second World War until the 1970s.

He says his goal is to eventually talk to people in communities about their first-hand experiences with the disease.

Hackett hopes looking at the history will give researchers insight on how to better fight Type Two diabetes in First Nations communities.