Self  management is an important aspect of health care especially in chronic or non- communicable diseases as diabetes. But every society has its own cultural and social factors which play crucial role in the treatment , as some type of food are specific to some community that depend upon socio cultural factors if people of some community use more fats and alcohol which are empty in calories then chances of central obesity is more . This obesity leads to Insulin resistance and difficult to monitor diabetes. Because to control diabetes lifestyle modification is required, otherwise we can't control diabetes with pharmacological ways only.Health seeking behavior is also depend upon these factors, hence. Intervention of lifestyle modification to understand the socio cultural factors is essential.

Good answer from Mohan. There is a clear correlation between culture and diabetes - and a lot will be linked to traditional diets and other behaviours (such as a more sedentary lifestyle being the norm - rather than active exercise). Then there is the genetic link as well (which obviously can't be studied using an ethnographic methodology) - which is an added factor. Where I live, in New Zealand for example, Maori and Pacifica populations are at a disproportionately high risk of developing diabetes for the reasons already stated - compared to the larger "Pakeha' (New Zealanders of European descent) population. Of course, culture is not the only cause of diabetes and rates of diabetes will vary across cultures; more often than not - related to socio-economic status. 

Hi Damilola,

The Health belief model suggests that contexts influences actions related to self-management. You may prosecute its applicability to diabetes self-management.

thank you so much for the comments. that was really helpful

I think it is .for example during the Ramadan fasting one is not allowed to eat food number of hours. That may affect the glucose levels in the body. The person doing this due to a religious belief