Since recruitment started in May 2004, Te Wai O Rona's diabetes screening sessions have been held in hundreds of marae, halls, workplaces and homes in the Waikato and Lakes district health board regions, in order to get as many Maori involved in the project as possible.

Accord to the DHBs, the strategy, to prevent Type 2 diabetes, is the largest New Zealand research project focused solely on the Maori community

Type 2 diabetes can be prevented through a change in diet and increased exercise.

Lead researcher Professor David Simmons was thrilled with the number of Maori who have volunteered for the on-going research.

"Thanks to the fantastic support we have received from all parts of the Maori community, we now have a statistically valid sample to be able to demonstrate a 35 per cent reduction in new cases of Type 2 diabetes over four years.

"Our goal is to show we can prevent diabetes at a cost of about $200 a person a year. Prevention is of course better –- and more cost-effective –- than treatment once Type 2 diabetes has developed."

Already, a quarter of those recruited on to the study have been found to be at high risk of developing diabetes, and up to 10 per cent of these will go on to develop Type 2 diabetes each year.

A further five per cent of those screened have been found to have undiagnosed diabetes and have been referred for treatment.