World Diabetes Day is celebrated on 14 November each year. This year, the theme is Diabetes: Protect Your Family.
Background Information:
November 2019 marks the second year of a two-year theme dedicated to “The Family and
Diabetes”. The tagline for the campaign this year is “Diabetes: Protect your Family”.
Research conducted by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) revealed that many parents would struggle to spot the warning signs of diabetes in their own children.
Although the majority of people surveyed had a family member with diabetes, an alarming four-in-five parents would have trouble recognizing the warning signs. One-in-three wouldn’t spot them at all.
The aims of the campaign are to raise awareness of the impact that diabetes has on the family and to promote the role of the family in the management, care, prevention and education of the condition.
Key Messages:
425 million adults (1-in-11) have diabetes.
The number of people with diabetes is expected to rise to 522 million by 2030
1 in 2 people with diabetes remain undiagnosed (212 million). Early diagnosis and
treatment is key to helping prevent or delay life-threatening complications.
3 out of 4 people with diabetes live in low and middle income countries.
Over 1 million children and adolescents have type 1 diabetes. If type 1 diabetes is not detected early, it can lead to serious disability or death.
1 in 6 births is affected by high blood glucose (hyperglycaemia) in pregnancy
Two-thirds of people with diabetes are of working age (327 million).
Diabetes caused 4 million deaths in 2017.
Diabetes was responsible for at least $727 billion in health expenditure in 2017 – that’s greater than the defence budgets of the US and China combined!
Many cases of type 2 diabetes can be prevented by adopting a healthy lifestyle.
Reducing your family’s risk starts at home. When a family eats healthy meals and
exercises together, all family members benefit and encourage behaviours that
could help prevent type 2 diabetes in the family.
If you have diabetes in your family, learn about the risks, the warning signs to look out for and what you can do to prevent type 2 diabetes and complications of diabetes.
Families need to live in an environment that supports healthy lifestyles and helps them to prevent type 2 diabetes.
Brief questionnaires are simple, practical and inexpensive ways to quickly identify people who may be at a higher risk of type 2 diabetes and should consult a health professional.
Managing diabetes requires daily treatment, regular monitoring, a healthy lifestyle and ongoing education. Family support is key.
All health professionals should have the knowledge and skills to help individuals and families manage diabetes.
Education and ongoing support should be accessible to all individuals and families to help manage diabetes.
Essential diabetes medicines and care must be accessible and affordable for every family.
Useful Links:
Link to World Diabetes Day 2019 web site:
Link to International Diabetes Federation’s Online Diabetes Risk Assessment tool:
Link to IDF Framework for action on Sugar:
Click to access Framework-for-Action-on-Sugar-010615.pdf
Link to World Diabetes Day video:
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