People with diabetes

There are more than 375 million indigenous people in the world. The guardians of a rich knowledge of the natural world, intricate cultivation systems, animal husbandry, and the use of traditional medicines, they represent a treasure of cultural diversity, including more than half the world’s 5000 to 6000 languages. Indigenous people practice innumerable ways of living together with respect for fellow human beings and the environment. But it is estimated that within the next two decades, as indigenous communities continue to be decimated – in many cases driven

Diabetes is affecting more and more people every year. In the last decade, the number of people diagnosed with diabetes of one kind or another increased by almost 50%. By the year 2025, more than 300 million people around the world could have been diagnosed with the condition. Many others who have diabetes will not have been diagnosed. Diabetes also represents a major threat to the health of the world’s millions of migrants, who appear to be at greater risk of developing diabetes than non-migrants. Manuel Carballo and Frederik Siem report.

In 2003, a 16-year-old girl with diabetes had an idea which looks set to change the face of diabetes. Not long after his election as President-Elect of the International Diabetes Federation, Martin Silink was approached by Clare Rosenfeld, who spoke of her dream of a United Nations Resolution on diabetes. Inspired by Clare’s dream, Martin Silink spent the subsequent two years gauging the opinion of the diabetes stakeholders and garnering worldwide support for a UN Resolution. He

Type 2 diabetes is at epidemic proportions among Aboriginal people in Canada – around 15% of the Aboriginal population from 15 years and older. During the 1980s, healthcare providers at the local hospital in Kahnawake Mohawk Territory near Montreal, Quebec, noticed high rates of diabetes among people with cardiovascular

In a significant number of people, both type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes progress to the development of vascular complications and ultimately

From the moment they are diagnosed with the condition, people with diabetes receive all kinds of advice – or at least they should – ideally from others with the condition or family members who are ‘experts’ in living with diabetes, and professional health-care providers. Of all of these recommendations, one that is often misinterpreted is that relating to ‘appropriate footwear’. The key to this lies in the word ‘appropriate’.

This is the story of ‘Mr L’, a man in Australia with type 2 diabetes and severe diabetes nerve damage (peripheral neuropathy). He developed neuropathy-related ulcers on one of his toes, which remained untreated for a number of months. He faced the prospect of having his left foot amputated. However, this was prevented because Mr L was linked to a multidisciplinary hospital-based diabetic foot clinic.

An ongoing initiative of the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization focuses on the development of basic procedures to improve diabetes prevention and control: the Building Blocks project. A set of diabetes care guidelines based on the Building Blocks principles resulted from a number of regional workshops involving experts in a variety of diabetes-related fields

Editor-in-Chief's editorial

Despite his 13 years of experience as a voluntary fire fighter, Stuart Murdoch’s application to become a professional member of the fire brigade in his home town of Fish Hoek, South Africa was rejected – because he had type 1 diabetes. Upon hearing of his employers’ decision to discriminate against him on the grounds of his condition, Stuart felt indignant and deflated; but he was not defeated. This is his account of how his successful struggle against ignorance and discrimination changed the law for people with diabetes in South Africa.