World Diabetes Day is November 14

Have you heard the bells clanging and the sirens wailing to announce World Diabetes Day? You will on November 14th.  The International Diabetes Federation has named Diabetes Education and Prevention as the theme of the 2009-2013 period.

Rah, rah, rah. Go education! Yay for prevention!

This is a very significant step. We know that diabetes changes occur in the body long before diabetes is diagnosed--this is a stage called pre-diabetes. In our country, most insurers will not pay for diabetes and nutrition education unless you already have the diagnosis.

Changing the tide of diabetes has to happen on national and international fronts. Campaigns to educate about healthy eating, regular physical activity, and stress management have to take place early and often. It takes money to do this, but early education, infrastucture changes and prevention activities lower the overall cost of treating diabetes and other health complications.

Now if only my community will hear this call and require sidewalks in new developments: people might walk the one mile to the store, post-office or café.

Messages about diabetes are being sounded in online and print news sources. An article in the Belfast Telegraph announced that Northern Ireland is a ticking time-bomb of type 2 diabetes. The diabetes time bomb can have farther reaching implications on life in Ireland than the other kind of bombs. There are articles like this coming from both developed and underdeveloped countries.

The United Nations (UN) acknowledges the importance of diabetes prevention and care by declaring November 14th as World Diabetes Day. Diabetes advocates have called on the UN to go beyond acknowledging the day to developing a platform for developed and undeveloped countries to focus on prevention and early treatment.

The smallest and largest countries in the world are affected by this disease--but the biggest burden is borne by the person who has the disease. This is the time to learn more about diabetes if you have the disease and even if you don’t have it, you can be an educator and ambassador in your community.

Your voice at home, in your workplace, in local, state and national government can help prevent and educate. A simple message such as “30 minutes of exercise a day can reduce your risk for diabetes by 40%” can be profound.

So start thinking about how you can spread the message of World Diabetes Day...and tell us about it!

--Sharlene

Comments

[diabetes]

I never thought that there is an Occasion like this.

-sm