If current trends continue, within the next 10 years, a quarter of all people in Mexico will be living with diabetes. Diabetes already affects 12% of the general population and, astonishingly, one in three people over 65 years of age. Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness, kidney failure and lower-limb amputations. Indeed, in 2004, diabetes was declared the leading cause of death in Mexico due to its link with heart disease. In 2003, in an effort to respond to the urgent need for cost-effective strategies to improve the health and quality of life of people affected by diabetes, Project HOPE (Health Opportunities for People Everywhere, an international non-profit organization dedicated to improving health through education) launched a two-year diabetes education initiative. Courtney Guthreau and Abraham Castañeda Chávez report on this initiative, which was recently recognized in the 2004 DAWN Awards.