Dr Coleman said diabetes is New Zealand's fastest growing long-term health condition.
Counties Manukau has New Zealand's highest rate of diagnosed diabetes, at 6.9 per cent of the adult population, compared with a national average of 4.4 per cent. The Ministry of Health estimates 240,000 people nationally have been diagnosed with diabetes, mostly type 2, and it is thought there are another 100,000 who have the disease without realising it.
Obesity increases the risk of type 2 diabetes and New Zealand's rate of diabetes has tripled since the 1970s. There are fears rising obesity will fuel an unsustainable demand for diabetes-related health care.
Dr Cooper admits to bad habits that contributed to his extreme weight, recalling that he would happily wash down five pies at a sitting with two litres of Coca-Cola. But with the help of surgery and his determination to deal with his obesity, he now eats small portions, with a slant to plenty of vegetables, and he loves physical activity.
"I feel great. Before, I never played squash; now I love playing squash. It's my main game. Before, I didn't have much energy; now I have got plenty of energy," said Dr Cooper, who is married and has four children and eight grandchildren.
When facing redundancy from an academic position, he wrote a health programme and asked health officials if they wanted to implement it.
"They sent two people and created a job at Counties Manukau DHB. Myself with diabetes, I had to make some big changes so I could walk the talk. I was in no state to inspire or motivate people to manage their diabetes. I had to really work hard and eat properly and exercise and drop the weight off so I could be a better role model for the people I have to work with and inspire."
His diabetes, diagnosed around 15 years ago, went into remission straight after the surgery -- although he doesn't believe he is cured -- and he stopped taking medications to control diabetes, cholesterol and blood pressure.
"My [blood] sugar levels have been at the right place, where they should be."
He said he had seen too many men he worked with at the health board suffer diabetes complications such as blindness, limb amputation, stroke and kidney failure. He recalled two men who had died in their early-to-mid 40s -- "that's too young".
"I have been encouraging many of them to go through [obesity surgery]. A successful one has been my younger brother."
The Government's new plan contains six priorities to be implemented over the next five years:
• Preventing people at high risk of the disease from going on to develop it,
• Detecting diabetes early and reducing the risk of complications,
• Enabling effective self-management,
• Providing integrated care,
• Improving the quality of diabetes health care, and
• Meeting the needs of those with type 1 diabetes, a disease thought to result from an auto-immune disorder.
Dr Coleman said the plan was a roadmap for tackling one of the country's greatest health challenges.
"In recent years we've made significant progress in saving lives and improving the health of more than a quarter of a million New Zealanders with diabetes."
Government doing "too little"
Green Party health spokesman Kevin Hague said the Government was doing too little to deal with New Zealand's obesity "crisis".
"At a very minimum, we should not be allowing junk food peddlers to sell sugary food and drink to our kids in our schools.
"There should also be a tax on sugar-laden drinks, to drive down consumption, with all revenue pumped back into obesity prevention and other health programmes."
"Until the Government stops protecting the junk food industry at the expense of New Zealanders, the obesity crisis will keep getting worse."
"Encouraging kids to do an extra lap around the school field isn't going to have any real effect if they've just downed a litre bottle of Coke from the tuck shop."
"Parents want more regulation, and so do health experts and medical professionals - it's only National and the junk food corporations that don't."
Dr Coleman's spokeswoman said he was putting the final touches on a package of policies to deal with obesity.
