Held each year on November 14th, World Diabetes Day is the primary global awareness campaign of the diabetes community. By uniting national member associations in more than 160 countries around the World Diabetes Day campaign, IDF provides a powerful, global voice for diabetes that vastly increases the visibility, reach, and impact of individual member associations.

One of the most dramatic displays of global support was the more than 900 monuments and buildings in 84 countries that were lit in blue to commemorate World Diabetes Day 2010. Iconic buildings and sites throughout the world were illuminated in the colour of the blue circle, the global symbol for diabetes and central component of the World Diabetes Day campaign logo. The blue lightings symbolize beacons of hope for the millions of people worldwide living with diabetes and the many more at risk, and provide a strong visual element to attract attention to the diabetes cause. They are also testimony to the power of the combined efforts of the global diabetes community to alter the diabetes landscape.

Launched in 2007, the ‘Bring Diabetes to Light’ campaign is a very popular activity among IDF member associations and other key stakeholders of World Diabetes Day. It is one of the core components of the global campaign celebrations.

Starting with the Empire State Building in New York City, over 1,000 monuments, buildings and landmarks in more than 115 countries have been lit in blue for diabetes since the launch of the campaign. These include world-renowned landmarks such as Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, the Sydney Opera House, the Colosseum in Rome, the London Eye, Table Mountain in Cape Town, and Niagara Falls in the state of New York. The map shows how many monuments in each country were lit in blue for World Diabetes Day 2010.

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