A new program in Brooklyn launched Friday with the goal to combat diabetes rates in the borough.

Residents were at Pierre Toussaint Family Health Center on Eastern Parkway, to celebrate the opening of the program that aims to tackle diabetes in the area.

The chronic disease impacts 12% of Brooklyn's population according to One Brooklyn Health. It affects neighborhoods like Bed-Stuy, Crown Heights, Brownsville and East New York.

The center is partnering with Health People with the shared goal of not only caring for diabetes patients but to also educate residents on ways to prevent the disease.

The challenges that come with diabetes is something Rodney Murreld knows all too well, as a patient who's lived with the disease for 15 years.

He said after receiving care through One Brooklyn Health, he's now ready to pay it forward as a peer-to-peer educator to help other patients get on track with their health.

"I had a lot of friends and family members pass with this. I don't want nobody else to not know what they dealing with," Murreld said.

The center said it will train its patients and residents to lead and teach self-management classes. It also said its staff will listen to patients' concerns and questions and the challenges that someone with diabetes faces.

The center hopes to tackle disparities in health, as well as provide long-term services to communities that diabetes impacts.