Six months to go to World Diabetes Day!

Understand diabetes and take control

After a consultation period that included IDF member associations and other key stakeholders from the diabetes world, the International Diabetes Federation and the World Health Organization selected 'Diabetes Education and Prevention' as the theme for the 2009 to 2013 World Diabetes Day campaigns.

The campaign slogan this year is: "Understand Diabetes and Take Control."

For people with diabetes, this is a message about empowerment through education. For governments, it is a call to implement effective strategies and policies for the prevention and management of diabetes to safeguard the health of their citizens with and at risk of diabetes. For healthcare professionals, it is a call to improve knowledge so that evidence-based recommendations are put into practice. For the general public, it is a call to understand the serious impact of diabetes and know, where possible, how to avoid or delay diabetes and its complications.

The key messages of the campaign are:

• Know the diabetes risks and know the warning signs
• Know how to respond to diabetes and who to turn to
• Know how to manage diabetes and take control

Aspirational goals

Over the next five years the World Diabetes Day campaign will be driven by four aspirational goals that capture how we would (ideally) like to see the world at the end of time period:

• Every government should implement effective strategies and policies for the prevention and management of diabetes.
• Every person with diabetes should receive education and support to help them manage their diabetes.
• Everyone should know the warning signs of diabetes, how to prevent or delay the complications and what action to take to prevent or delay type 2 diabetes.
• Every country should celebrate World Diabetes Day.

We are calling on the diabetes world to take action to help make these goals a reality.

Building on past success

Recent World Diabetes Day campaigns have achieved considerable success in raising awareness of key diabetes issues and mobilizing resources to address those issues. Last year the World Diabetes Day campaign was a resounding success thanks to the efforts of IDF's member associations and the wider global diabetes community.

The 2008 campaign was dedicated to the theme of diabetes in children and adolescents. The milestone achievements included a significant expansion of the Federation's Life for a Child Program and a significant increase in resources dedicated to the support of children with type 1 diabetes in the developing world. While much still needs to be done to secure the future of the 70,000 children in desperate circumstances, the campaign created an environment that helped accelerate change. Other campaign achievements included:

• 115 countries registered events
• 1647 events and activities worldwide, including walks and blue monument/building lightings registered on the campaign website
• 21 proclamations to support World Diabetes Day collected
• 1500 WDD pictures submitted to the World Diabetes Day website
• 165,000 virtual candles lit
• 4,000,000 World Diabetes Day banners viewed
• 4,750 distinct websites generated visitors to www.worlddiabetesday.org.

The 2009-2013 campaigns will build upon these successes and add new components that will support the advocacy and awareness-raising efforts of the global diabetes community.

Official Partners sign up in support

As a not-for-profit organization, the International Diabetes Federation depends on the support of its membership, partnering organizations and donations from individuals to help support our campaigns and programmes. The World Diabetes Day 2009 campaign has been joined by 14 official partners so far:

• Abbott Diabetes Care
• AstraZeneca
• Boston Scientific
• Bristol-Myers Squibb
• LifeScan
• Eli Lilly
• Medtronic
• Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD)
• Novartis
• Novo Nordisk
• Pfizer
• Roche
• Sanofi Aventis
• Takeda

For information on how to become an official partner, please contact worlddiabetesday@idf.org.

News round up

WDD website now trilingual

In order to better serve the needs of the global diabetes community, the World Diabetes Day website is now available in English, French, and Spanish.

WDD logo in over 50 languages

The World Diabetes Day logo is now available in more than 50 languages. Is it available in your language yet? Check out all the logos.

Monument lightings to happen again

We have started to receive plans for World Diabetes Day 2009 around the world. It is clear that many will once more seek lightings of landmark buildings and sites to mark the day. In our next newsletter, we will begin the count with a list of the buildings and sites that have been confirmed thus far. Please send the names of any confirmed monument lightings to dominique.robert@idf.org.

Whatever the event you plan to organize for World diabetes Day this year, please register your event on the World diabetes Day website so that we can share your activities with the global diabetes community. Register your activity here.