Diabetes in Society

Associação de Diabetes Juvenil - ADJ reports on the status of child health in Brazil over the past 20 years and discusses what types of programmes they and the federal government have developed to quell the obesity, diabetes and Non-communicable Disease (NCD) epidemic faced by families and school aged children. Learn how ADJ is promoting diabetes education for families and making a difference in their quality of life.

Taking type 1 diabetes to school is the subject of the second instalment for our Voices of type 1 diabetes series which features first person accounts of people living with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes and their perspectives on managing the conditions in our world today.

Voices of type 1 diabetes is a new Diabetes Voice instalment reflecting the personal burden of diabetes in society. This new series will present individual stories from all over the world and provide an opportunity to appreciate different perspectives about life with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. In this first edition, voices from the type 1 diabetes community share their thoughts about every day life beyond diagnosis.
 

There is nothing ordinary about Josu Feijoo, a 47-year-old mountaineer from Vitoria, in the Basque Country – except perhaps that like millions of people around the world he has type 1 diabetes. He lives by his own maxim: the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. A glance at his curriculum tells us that Josu has had more than a few dreams, and he has believed in them enough to transform them into reality.

From Cairo to Copenhagen, Delhi to Doha, Miami to Melbourne the world once again united on 14 November 2012 to raise awareness of the ever-increasing threat posed by the diabetes epidemic in every part of the world, and help to bring about improvements to the 371 million people currently affected by diabetes.

There is no country in the world that does not bear some burden from diabetes. The IDF Diabetes Atlas Update for 2012 confirms that cases are increasing everywhere and at an alarming pace. Today, there are an estimated 371 million adults living with diabetes. To put this number into perspective: if all the people with diabetes formed a country, it would be the third most populous country after China and India. Four out of five of the people live in low- and middle-income countries, where health systems are struggling to keep pace with the rising burden of non-communicable disease.

In 2007, Diabetes Voice reported on a community awareness campaign to promote early recognition of the symptoms of type 1 diabetes in children and, above all, prevent the appearance of ketoacidosis. That initiative, based in Parma, Italy, was successful and at a relatively low cost, which led other groups to repeat the experience in in Europe, North America and Australia. But no-one had tried to set one up in a developing country – until the authors packed the necessary supplies into lorries and sent the campaign overland to 32 African countries.

From tiny acorns mighty acorns grow. In Paul Buchanan’s case, that tiny acorn was the idea to create an online ‘agora’ for people with diabetes – a meeting place where ideas and experiences could be exchanged freely and responsibly, and a focal point for a nascent peer support network. Paul’s vision is a network of online communities worldwide united by diabetes through social media. The key difference between that vision and the mighty oak is the time they take to grow.

Type 1 diabetes is a complex and challenging disease due to its physiological, behavioural and psychosocial characteristics. Diabetes care and education is life-long and people who are affected must adapt as they age. In 2011, IDF launched the 3C Study – Coverage, Cost and Care of type 1 diabetes, in collaboration with the Chinese Diabetes Society, in order to understand better how this disease affects people living in the Beijing and Shantou areas.