1. World Diabetes Day theme selected for next five years
2. Monument lighting: the first confirmations come in
3. Share your diabetes stories

World Diabetes Day theme selected for next five years

The International Diabetes Federation has chosen an umbrella theme for World Diabetes Day to cover the five-year period from 2009 to 2013:

Spreading this umbrella theme over 5 years will allow us all to plan our campaigns long term and create awareness-raising materials that stay relevant for longer.

Last year, World Diabetes Day was recognized as an official United Nations World Day as a consequence of the United Nations Resolution on Diabetes. This made the day more significant than ever and informed the decision to put out a request to the global diabetes community for suggestions for future themes. The response was very good.

When considering the suggested themes, the Board applied a number of criteria, including the following:

• Themes should be readily understandable to the general population
• Themes should, preferably, be of relevance to people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes
• Themes should be relevant to both the developed and the developing world.

After careful consideration, the Board of the International Diabetes Federation decided to establish the umbrella theme of diabetes education and prevention based on the most popular suggestions that were received.

Monument challenge: the first confirmations come in

The blue lighting campaign last year was highly popular and proved a great success. You will recall that a total of 279 monuments were lit in blue to mark the day. Together we can exceed that figure in six months time. Please support the campaign by securing a monument for participation in your area.

The first thirteen monuments to confirm are:

• Banting House National Historic Site, London, Ontario, Canada
• Round About, Tortola, British Virgin Islands
• Swan Bell Tower, Perth, Australia
• Kings Park Gum Trees, Perth, Australia
• Jet d'eau, Geneva, Switzerland
• Shree Swaminarayan Temple, Cardiff, UK
• Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, Indianapolis, USA
• Indira Gandhi Statue, Gorakhpur, India
• City Hall, Nicosia, Cyprus
• City Hall, Brussels, Belgium
• Chitracut public garden, Jaipur, India
• Sophia school, Jodhpur, India
• City Hall, Koprivnica, Croatia

Share your diabetes stories

Help us illustrate this year’s theme of diabetes in children and adolescents. We would like to capture stories that will help explain what it’s like to live with diabetes from the perspective of the child with diabetes, the mother, father or other family member of a child with diabetes, the friend, the teacher, the healthcare professional – in fact anyone affected when a child has diabetes.

What was it like to hear the diagnosis? What is the care like in your country? How does diabetes make you feel? What are the difficulties, if any, you have overcome? What are the challenges you face? What successes have you had? What advice would you give to others?

We want to help people to understand what diabetes is like in different parts of the world. Send your story to wdd@idf.org.

Posted on Thu, 05/29/2008 - 16:35