15 days to go to World Diabetes Day!

Association spotlight: The Diabetes Association of Mali

The Diabetes Association of Mali and the Bamako authorities have decided to unite for diabetes and act on World Diabetes Day 2008.

The Association is organizing a 1.5 km walk in Bamako on the eve of World Diabetes Day. The walk departs from Independence Square, where the President of the organization will present a copy of the 'World Diabetes Day' Resolution – United Nations Resolution 61/225 – to the Mayor of the Bamako District. The Association hope that the walk will have a positive impact on politicians and encourage action to take on the diabetes epidemic.

On World Diabetes Day itself, a large-scale screening programme will be organized for the population of Bamako and awareness-raising activities will be undertaken with particular emphasis on the family and on obesity - in Mali obesity is seen as a sign of prosperity and good health.

Many activities are foreseen to reach out to the media, including radio broadcasts, television debates and the lighting of two monuments in the capital city. The message "unite for diabetes" will be projected from Nov 10 to 14.

We wish all the best to our friends and colleagues in Mali for their events.

Breaking news

London, October 25th meeting

As reported in the last update, a meeting was held by the International Diabetes Federation last Saturday to address the pressing needs of children with type 1 diabetes in the developing world.

Hosted by Diabetes UK, the meeting brought together key opinion leaders to push for action. While we can't give out details at this point, we can share the news that the meeting was exciting, conducted in an atmosphere of true collaboration and incredibly positive in outcome.

The meeting, entitled 'From awareness to action: from 1000 to 10,000', aimed to find ways that we can expand the care provided to the just over 1000 children currently covered by the IDF Life for a Child Program to reach 10,000 children in the short term and many more beyond that (see http://www.lifeforachild.org). IDF estimates that close to 75,000 children in low-income and lower-middle income countries are living with diabetes in desperate circumstances.

Everyone involved in the meeting was ready to commit to action. Indeed, many organizations pledged donations in supplies and kind that will make a significant difference. As soon as more information can be released, we'll share it with you.

Jonas Brothers bring diabetes to light

If you haven't heard of them yet, you soon will do. Well on their way to becoming a global pop phenomenon, the Jonas Brothers have seven platinum and gold records outside their native US, have just completed a sell-out European tour, and have filled 80,000-seater venues in Latin America. Nick, Kevin and Joe still found time to record a short radio piece for the World Diabetes Day campaign. And there's a good reason why...

Lead singer and guitarist Nick Jonas was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when he was 13. The Jonas Brothers' new single in the US draws on the experiences of the brothers and their family in dealing with diabetes. The song, 'A Little Bit Longer', rocketed to the top of the iTunes singles chart in the US in just 24 hours. It has been recorded to spread awareness about the disease and offer encouragement to those who — like 15-year-old Nick — live with type 1 diabetes. We'll be looking to give away some signed Jonas Brothers' CDs on November 14. Keep an eye on the website.

I have diabetes, it doesn't have me!

At the age of 17, Jonathan Showers was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Four years have passed and this remarkable young man is tackling diabetes head-on, turning his passion for film-making to the advantage of millions of others living with diabetes. The 21-year-old makes his official directorial debut this November 14 with the premiere of his motivational, 30-minute documentary entitled 'I have diabetes, it doesn't have me'.

In the film, the young writer/director goes one-on-one with American footballer Brian Dawkins of the Philadelphia Eagles and the Phillie Phanatic, mascot of the local baseball team. Together, they encourage young people with diabetes to take total control of their disease.

The goal of the film is to shine a spotlight on individuals who, like Dawkins, lend their celebrity to the fight against this silent-killer. The footballer's mother and grandmother both have type 1. Each time Dawkins makes an interception in an NFL game, a $1,000 donation is made to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) in his name.

The film also showcases the positive effect that diabetes has had on the young director, the inspiring people he's come into contact with and the doors that diabetes has indirectly opened for him. Showers wants to encourage children and young adults to not only go after their dreams, but more importantly to take control of their diabetes. As the aspiring filmmaker puts it: "This disease doesn't give-up, neither can we." We have made Jonathan's Diabetes All-Stars project a friend of World Diabetes Day. Look out for his film this World Diabetes Day.

Meet all the friends of World Diabetes Day at http://www.worlddiabetesday.org/the-campaign/friends-of-wdd?s=15en.

Chef Segura cooks up a tasty diabetes day event

Puerto Rican Chef Ivan Segura is organizing an in-school event to mark World Diabetes Day 2008 in Miami. The event will take place at Western Pines Middle School and involve many of its 1200 students. Chef Segura has the support of local hospitals and diabetes centres.

The event will include sports activities for the children and information-exchange sessions. The main activity will be the preparation of a 100-meter-long sandwich that will be curved into the round shape of the diabetes circle. All the children will dress in diabetes blue. Two chefs and 50 children will prepare the chicken-salad sandwich. Chef Segura promises us that the nutritional values of the sandwich have been carefully checked.

The goal is to promote the message that diabetes-friendly menus with appropriate labelling should be available in schools and restaurants. Chef Segura is looking to attract the attention of local and national media. Thank you chef! We hope you have a fun day.

Will you be a 'Blue Beauty' for diabetes?

Founder of the organization Spa4Diabetes Candace Silvasy has thought of a novel idea to help bring diabetes to light. Candace is working closely with the international spa and beauty industries to hold fundraising events in spas worldwide for World Diabetes Day 2008.

Spa4Diabetes is rallying the global spa and beauty community to go blue on World Diabetes Day with its Blue Beauty campaign. Spas around the globe are asked to create blue-themed or diabetes-related spa treatments to offer on the day. Candace urges everyone to let their local day spas and salons know about Blue Beauty. The campaign encourages women (and men) to talk about diabetes and raise money to support diabetes education and prevention programmes, and research.

Spas from the United Kingdom, Portugal, United States and Asia are participating. Candace asks everyone to join in on November 14: "Please don't forget to wear your diabetes blue - even if it's just nail polish!" Go to http://spaaroundtheworld.wordpress.com/about for more information.

World Diabetes Day in numbers

50 in 5 and we're over 400

With over 10 monuments confirmed every day, the total number of buildings and sites participating in this year's World Diabetes Day campaign has exceeded 400.

Please keep sending your confirmed buildings to dominique.robert@idf.org. Let's see if we can reach 500. As always, the latest to join the campaign are listed at the bottom of this mail. See all the participating monuments in one place.

Over 220 registered events

Have you told enough people about your World Diabetes Day activity? Inspire others by registering your events on the World Diabetes Day events calendar, http://www.worlddiabetesday.org/add-activity?s=15en. Over 220 events are registered already.

To date 95 countries have registered their participation in this year's campaign.

1000 a day light the candle

In the past five days more than 1000 people a day have lit the World Diabetes Day candle, taking the running total to 23,000. Visit http://www.worlddiabetesday.org/virtualcandle?s=15en and help bring diabetes to light.

350,000 banner views in 5 days

Thanks to all the people who have placed a World Diabetes Day web banner on their sites, over 350,000 people viewed one of our World Diabetes Day campaign banners in the past five days.

If you include one of the World Diabetes Day banners from http://www.worlddiabetesday.org/materials/web-banners-0?s=15en, we can be sure that you get the latest banners as they become available. Please contact wdd@idf.org if you have any special requests. We'll do our very best to help you out.

10,000 signatures on the petition

And still no news from Google... Come on Google give diabetes a doodle! Not signed up yet? Visit http://diabetesdoodle.com.

Put diabetes in the picture!

We need pictures of your monument lightings, blue circle events, blue clothing events, walks, cycle rides, screenings - in fact we need pictures of any event that will be organized to mark World Diabetes Day 2008. We need to share images with the global diabetes community and the global media. Help us put diabetes in the picture. If you can volunteer to take high-quality, high-resolution pictures of an event near you, contact wdd@idf.org and let us know.

This year we'll be giving out fabulous World Diabetes Day prizes for the best images we receive.

Latest confirmed monuments:

• 358. Pobednik Monument in Kalemegdan Fortress, Belgrade, Serbia
• 359. New Railway Bridge across The Sava river, Belgrade, Serbia
• 360. Indian Medical Association, Salem,India
• 361. Gimnazija v Kranju- Secondary school, Kranj, Slovenia
• 362. Grad Bogenšperk- Castle, Bogenšperk, Slovenia
• 363. Športna dvorana Litija- Sport hall, Litija, Slovenia
• 364. Grad v Lendavi- Castle of Lendava, Slovenia
• 365. City Hall, San Francisco, US
• 366. Phillips Center Fountain, Gainesville, USA
• 367. Intendencia Municipal, Villa Mercedes, Argentina
• 368. Fabrica de Harinas JCCN, Albacete, Spain
• 369. Associação Riograndense de Apoio ao Diabético, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
• 370. Centro Universitário FEEVALE - Prédio Branco da Ciência, Novo Hamburgo
• 371. Instituto da Criança com Diabetes, Porto Alegre, Brazil
• 372. Largo do Expedicionário - Parque da Redenção, Porto Alegre, Brazil
• 373. Marco Zero, Recife, Brazil
• 374. Prefeitura Municipal de Porto Alegre, Brazil
• 375. Hôtel de Ville, Nancy, France
• 376. Puente Orinokia, Estado Bolivar, Venezuela
• 377. Dasman Diabetes Center, Kuwait City, Kuwait
• 378. San Bernardino Church in L'Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy
• 379. Bergisel Schanze, Innsbruck, Austria
• 380. Pieve di Santa Maria, Arezzo, Italy
• 381. Camara Municipal do Funchal, Madeira Islands, Portugal
• 382. Hôtel de Ville, Rabat, Morocco
• 383. City Hall, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
• 384. Diabetes Association, Trinidad and Tobago
• 385. Monument de la République, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
• 386. NovoNordisk Schweiz AG, Küsnacht, Switzerland
• 387. Diabetes Clinic, Kathmandu, Nepal
• 388. Thomas Rotherham College, Rotherham, Yorkshire, UK
• 389. Providence Health Center, Waco,Tx, US
• 390. Town Hall, Leicester, UK
• 391. Bosingak, Seoul, Korea
• 392. Gwangan Bridge, Busan, Korea
• 393. Politeama Theater, Catanzaro, Italy
• 394. Il Cavatore, Catanzaro, Italy
• 395. Centro Médico de Especialidades, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico
• 396. Clínica Oftalmológica Vision-Check-up, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico
• 397. Hospital Santo Tomás, Panama, Panama
• 398. Faculty of Medicine, University of Gezira, Wad Medani, Sudan
• 399. Parabolantennae, Tanumshede, Sweden
• 400. Karlskoga City Hall, Karlskoga, Sweden
• 401. Madison County Courthouse, Richmond, KY, US
• 402. ABC 4 Diabetes, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
• 403. Al Bir Society, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
• 404. Town Hall, Mogilno, Poland
• 405. Munot, Schaffhausen, Switzerland
• 406. Mãe d'Água, Lisbon, Portugal
• 407. Sé de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
• 408. Augusta Street's Arch, Lisbon, Portugal
• 409. Puente Lago de Maracaibo, Maracaibo, Venezuela
• 410. Basilica de Lujan, Buenos Aires, Argentina
• 411. Basketball Hall of Fame, Springfield, US
• 412. Theodore Roosevelt County Executive and Legislature Building in Mineola, NY,US
• 413. Nagoya castle, Nagoya-city, Aichi, Japan
• 414. Embankment of Shinano river, Niigata-city, Niigata, Japan
• 415. Hôtel de Ville, Awans, Belgium
• 416. Hôtel de Ville, Comblain-au-Pont, Belgium
• 417. Church of Askum, Sotenäs, Sweden
• 418. Palais des Beaux-Arts, Charleroi, Belgium
• 419. Sahara Trading Center, Lucknow, India
• 420. Monumento a los Héroes de la Restauración, Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic
• 421. Stade olympique de Montréal, Canada