This year’s campaign marks a milestone for IDF and the diabetes community. Launching its 2011 slogan “Act on Diabetes. Now”, IDF will build on the momentum created by the first-ever UN Summit on Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs), to be attended by world leaders in September.
IDF wants messages and decisions coming out of the Summit to be further cemented by global action on World Diabetes Day, which is expected to reach a global audience of over one billion people.
“World Diabetes Day on 14 November provides the ideal opportunity to reinforce the messages and solutions that will be presented in New York” said Jean Claude Mbanya, IDF President.
The campaign will urge all levels of society, in the spirit of the UN Summit, to take action on the diabetes epidemic before it spirals out of control.
Speaking at the Commonwealth meeting for 50 Health Ministers in Geneva over the weekend, Professor Mbanya reiterated the need for heightened awareness and increased action, in particular from decision-makers, on NCDs including diabetes,
“We should ask ourselves why it is politically acceptable for a woman to die prematurely from a heart attack or cancer, or a man to die prematurely from diabetes or stroke. Something is badly wrong with our thinking on global health priorities”.
The 2011 campaign is the third year of the International Diabetes Federation’s five-year focus on “Diabetes education and prevention”. To complement this theme, IDF has also launched its first-ever animated campaign video, busting popular diabetes myths and putting the facts in full view.
For more information, please contact
Sara Webber
PR & Media Coordinator
International Diabetes Federation
+32 (0)496 12 94 70
Diabetes Facts
- Around 4 million people die from diabetes related causes each year, more than HIV/AIDS and malaria combined.
- Diabetes is a leading cause of blindness, kidney failure, heart attack, stroke and amputation globally.
- Over 300 million people are at high risk of developing diabetes (impaired glucose tolerance/pre-diabetes)
- Follow IDF and World Diabetes Day on: www.worlddiabetesday.org; Twitter www.twitter.com/wdd; Facebook-http://on.fb.me/jWS94e and www.youtube.com/worlddiabetesday.
- Watch IDF’s first ever animated campaign video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULVsbP2Chpo
About IDF
The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) is the global advocate for more than 300 million people with diabetes worldwide. It represents over 200 diabetes associations in more than 160 countries. Its mission is to promote diabetes care, prevention and a cure worldwide. Please visit www.idf.org for details.
About World Diabetes Day
World Diabetes Day is celebrated on 14 November, a date chosen to mark the birthday of Sir Frederick Banting, one of the pioneers in diabetes research. An official United Nation’s Day, World Diabetes Day is represented by the blue circle logo that is the global symbol of diabetes. The World Diabetes Day campaign is supported by 19 official partners: Abbott Diabetes Care, AstraZeneca, Bayer Diabetes Care, Becton Dickinson, Boehringer Ingelheim, Boston Scientific, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Kuwait Finance House, LifeScan, Lilly Diabetes, Medtronic, Merck Diabetes, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Roche, Sanofi-aventis, Servier and Takeda.
