World Diabetes Day falls on 14th November. The purpose of this day is to raise awareness of a condition that millions of people all around the world live with every day.
This year’s theme, ‘access to diabetes education’, underpins the larger multi-year theme of ‘access to care’.
Essentially, diabetes is about the body’s ability (or lack of it) to produce the required amount of a hormone called insulin to control glucose levels in the blood. There are broadly two types of diabetes: Type 1 requires daily administration of artificial insulin by means of injection or insulin pump. Type 2 is more generally managed by a combination of dietary control and medication in the form of tablets.
It’s very important that people with diabetes maintain good control of their condition to help reduce and avoid long term complications, and there have been huge advances in this area over recent years.
However, it is important that development work continues, to ensure people with the condition can live as normal a life as possible.
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