World Diabetes Day 2022: �Access to Diabetes Education'

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Highlights:

• World Diabetes Day observed every year provides an opportunity to raise awareness about diabetes
• To stay healthy, people living with diabetes need access to ongoing education to understand their condition
• Hence, this year's theme will focus on highlighting the need for better access to quality diabetes education

World Diabetes Day (WDD) is an annual campaign that promotes the importance of taking coordinated and concerted actions to confront diabetes as a critical global health issue reaching over 1 billion people in more than 160 countries (1^✔). The campaign activities will cover issues ranging from championing the priorities of people living with diabetes in advocacy to driving efforts globally to reduce the risk of diabetes and ensure access to treatment and care.

History of World Diabetes Day

World Diabetes Day (WDD) was created in 1991 by International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in response to growing concerns about the escalating health threat posed by diabetes.

World Diabetes Day became an official United Nations Day in 2006 with the passage of the United Nations Resolution. It is marked every year on 14 November in remembrance of the birthday of Sir Frederick Banting, who co-discovered insulin along with Charles Best in 1922.

‘World Diabetes Day 2022 celebrated on 14th November will focus on emphasizing the need for better access to quality diabetes education.’

The campaign is represented by a blue circle logo that was adopted in 2007 after the passage of the UN Resolution on diabetes. The blue circle is the global symbol of diabetes awareness. It signifies the unity of the global diabetes community in response to the diabetes epidemic.

Facts about Diabetes

• The number of people living with diabetes is expected to rise to 643 million by 2030 and 783 million by 2045 (2^✔).
• Almost 1 in 2 adults (44%) with diabetes remain undiagnosed (240 million).
• More than 3 in 4 people with diabetes live in low and middle-income countries.
• 541 million adults are at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
• More than 1.2 million children and adolescents (0-19 years) live with type 1 diabetes
• Diabetes caused 6.7 million deaths in 2021.
• Diabetes was responsible for at least 9% of the global total spent on healthcare.
• 1 in 6 live births (21 million) is affected by high blood glucose levels in pregnancy.

Understanding Diabetes

Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin, or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. This leads to an increased concentration of glucose in the blood.

Type 1 diabetes (previously known as insulin-dependent or childhood-onset diabetes) is characterized by a lack of insulin production. Type 2 diabetes is caused by the body's ineffective use of insulin from excess body weight and physical inactivity (3^✔).

Gestational diabetes is hyperglycemia that is first recognized during pregnancy. Common symptoms of diabetes include increased thirst, urination, and hunger; fatigue, blurred vision, numbness or tingling in the feet or hands, sores that do not heal and unexplained weight loss.

Lifestyle measures such as maintaining a healthy body weight; being physically active and eating a healthy diet are effective in preventing or delaying the onset of type 2 diabetes. Therefore, understanding this condition is the first step towards managing and preventing it.

Access to Diabetes Education

The rising number of people affected by diabetes is putting added strain on healthcare systems. Healthcare professionals must know how to detect and diagnose the condition early and provide the best possible care.

People living with diabetes also need access to ongoing education to understand their condition and carry out the daily self-care essential to staying healthy and avoiding complications.

Education to protect tomorrow is the theme of the World Diabetes Day 2022 campaign (4^✔). Activities will focus on highlighting the need for better access to quality diabetes education for health professionals and people living with diabetes.

How to Get Involved

World Diabetes Day is a global occasion on which people with diabetes, health professionals, media, the general public, and government organizations unite to raise awareness of diabetes. You can support the call and raise awareness of the need for more diabetes education in many ways:

• Take and share diabetes knowledge with free courses and training
• Display posters, infographics, and banners in your community.
• Organize an event: walk in blue for diabetes, light up a local landmark or arrange local diabetes fair. Submit activities and images online.
• Take a photo with the diabetes blue circle and share the diabetes story online using hashtags #WorldDiabetesDay and #Educateto Protect
• Join the Global Diabetes Walk, an initiative created by the World Diabetes Foundation in support of World Diabetes Day. Take to the streets to raise awareness of the impact of diabetes and the importance of physical activity. Whichever way you exercise make sure to wear blue and show your support for #WorldDiabetesDay and the #EducationToProtect campaign.

References:

1. World Diabetes Day 2022 - (https:www.who.int/campaigns/world-diabetes-day/2022)
2. About Diabetes - (https:idf.org/aboutdiabetes/what-is-diabetes/facts-figures.html)
3. Diabetes Fact Sheets - (https:www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/diabetes)
4. World Diabetes Day 2022 Theme - (https:worlddiabetesday.org/about/theme/)

Source: Medindia

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