World Diabetes Day

Logo for World Diabetes Day

Logo for World Diabetes Day.gif

    World Diabetes Day is the primary global awareness campaign of the diabetes world and is held on November 14 of each year. It was introduced in 1991 by the International Diabetes Federation and the World Health Organization in response to the alarming rise of diabetes around the world. World Diabetes Day is a campaign that features a new theme chosen by the International Diabetes Federation each year to address issues facing the global diabetes community.While the campaigns last the whole year, the day itself marks the birthday of Frederick Banting who, along with Charles Best, first conceived the idea which led to the discovery of insulin in 1922.
Frederick Banting

    The World Diabetes Day 2014 campaign marks the first of a three-year focus on healthy living and diabetes.The key messages of the campaign aim to raise awareness of how the healthy choice can be the easy choice and the various steps that individuals can take to make informed decisions about what they eat. Special focus will be placed on the importance of starting the day with a healthy breakfast.All campaign activities will be continue to be informed by the slogan "Diabetes: protect our future."


About diabetes

    Diabetes, is a chronic disease that occurs when the pancreas is no longer able to make insulin, or when the body cannot make good use of the insulin it produces. Insulin is a hormone made by the pancreas, that acts like a key to let glucose from the food we eat pass from the blood stream into the cells in the body to produce energy. All carbohydrate foods are broken down into glucose in the blood. Insulin helps glucose get into the cells.
    Not being able to produce insulin or use it effectively leads to raised glucose levels in the blood (known as hyperglycaemia). Over the long-term high glucose levels are associated with damage to the body and failure of various organs and tissues.

Risk factors

    The risk factors for type 1 diabetes are still being researched. However, having a family member with type 1 diabetes slightly increases the risk of developing the disease. Environmental factors and exposure to some viral infections have also been linked to the risk of developing type 1 diabetes
Several risk factors have been associated with type 2 diabetes and include:
Family history of diabetes
Overweight
Unhealthy diet
Physical inactivity
Increasing age
High blood pressure
Ethnicity
Impaired glucose tolerance (IGT)*
History of gestational diabetes
Poor nutrition during pregnancy

Prevention

    At present, type 1 diabetes cannot be prevented. The environmental triggers that are thought to generate the process that results in the destruction of the body’s insulin-producing cells are still under investigation.
    There is a lot of evidence that lifestyle changes (achieving a healthy body weight and moderate physical activity) can help prevent the development of type 2 diabetes.

If you want to learn more about diabetes, please go tohttp://www.idf.org/about-diabetes