World Diabetes Day is celebrated on 14 November every year. It was created in 1991 by International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in response to growing concerns about the increasing health threat posed by diabetes. World Diabetes Day is an official United Nations Day since 2006 with world’s largest diabetes awareness campaign in more than 160 countries.
The World Diabetes Day campaign aims to:
The campaign is represented by a blue circle logo as a global symbol for diabetes awareness and signifies the unity of the global diabetes community in response to the diabetes epidemic.
The theme for World Diabetes day and World Diabetes Month 2018 and 2019 is the Family and Diabetes. It aims to:
Diabetes concerns every family:
What is diabetes?
Diabetes is a chronic disease in which a person has high blood glucose (hyperglycemia) either because they are not producing enough insulin, or because the body does not respond properly to insulin. Insulin is a hormone produced by pancreas. It helps glucose (carbohydrate foods are broken down into glucose) to be utilized by body cells to produce energy. Hyperglycemia over the long-term is associated with damage to the body and failure of various organs and tissues.
There are three main types of diabetes:
Type 1 diabetes: Body does not produce enough insulin
Type 2 diabetes: Body produces insulin but can’t use it well
Gestational diabetes: A temporary condition in pregnancy
Type 2 diabetes risk factors:
Calculate your risk of Type 2 diabetes here and take action.
Genetics, age and family history of diabetes can increase the likelihood of becoming diabetic and cannot be changed but unhealthy eating and lack of exercise can be changed.
Symptoms of diabetes: frequent urination, excessive thirst, weight loss, blurred vision
Diagnostic criteria for diabetes (2006 WHO recommendations)
Diabetes should be diagnosed if one or more of the following criteria are met:
• Fasting plasma glucose ≥ 7.0 mmol/L (126 mg/ dl) (fasting is defined as no caloric intake for at least 8h).
• Two-hour plasma glucose ≥ 11.1 mmol/L (200 mg/dl) following a 75g oral glucose load.
HbA1c: An HbA1c of 6.5% is recommended as the cut point for diagnosing diabetes. A value of less than 6.5% does not exclude diabetes diagnosed using glucose tests.
Complications: Poorly managed diabetes leads to serious complications such as retinopathy, cardiovascular disease, pregnancy complications, diabetic foot, periodontitis, kidney disease, neuropathy and early death.
Outcome: With good self-management and health professional support, people with diabetes can live a long, healthy life.
Type 1 diabetes cannot be prevented with current knowledge.
Prevent type-2 diabetes:
National activities for control and prevention of diabetes:
mDiabetes mobile application- The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India in collaboration with the WHO Country Office for India and other partners, has launched a mobile health initiative for the prevention and care of diabetes – mDiabetes. For more information/ registration to diabetes programme give a missed call on 011-22901701 or register on line at http://mdiabetes.nhp.gov.in/ .
National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke* (NPCDCS) was launched in 2010 by MoHFW in order to prevent and control the major NCDs. The main focus of the programme is on health promotion, early diagnosis, management and referral of cases, besides strengthening the infrastructure and capacity building.
Population based screening is also started in 2017 for diabetes, hypertension and common cancers (oral, breast and cervical cancers) under NHM, as a part of comprehensive primary healthcare.
“Diabetes cannot be cured. It can only be controlled”
References-
* dghs.gov.in/content/1363_3_NationalProgrammePreventionControl.aspx
www.nhp.gov.in/disease/digestive/pancreas/diabetes-mellitus
www.who.int/diabetes/global-report/WHD2016_Diabetes_Infographic_v2.pdf?ua=1
