Commentary on diabetes and Tongans in Aoteroa

Diabetes is a global challenge without universal personal solutions. A special diabetes clinic of the Tongan Health Society Incorporated, at Langimalie Health Centre, Onehunga, Auckland has about 1166 Tongans with diabetes in its register. This experience is very much the experience with Tongan diabetes patients and may be common to other Pacific ethnic groups. The characteristics of these diabetic patients can be explained through an understanding of the ethnic specific characteristics of Tongan populations. Among Tongans, illness and diseases are synonymous with symptoms. Non-communicable diseases have been labeled as the diseases of affluence in Pacific countries. Food is a high priority cultural commodity. Food consumption at personal level is determined and controlled at household level. Therefore patients with diabetes have little control over food preparations and meals. The study showed that the common sense association between food preference and food consumption was incorrect, mostly due to the inability to access the preferred food. The universal personal solution for diabetes is embedded in the ethnic specific fabric of populations. There should be more research by Tongans on Tongans so that ethnic specific nuances of language and behaviours of Tongan diabetes patients may be better understood and disentangled.