World Diabetes Day 2017: To the women of diabetes – thank you

Diabetes Victoria is celebrating this year’s World Diabetes Day on Tuesday 14 November and the 2017 theme is: To the women of diabetes – thank you.  We are taking the opportunity to recognise the day-to-day achievements of women in the field of diabetes – many of which go unnoticed. Women are often responsible for ensuring their loved ones’ diabetes is managed, many work as diabetes nurse educators and researchers, and many live with diabetes themselves. This year we want to thank all these women who are touched by diabetes in some capacity.

Diabetes Victoria will be joining the International Diabetes Federation’s annual monument challenge. In Melbourne, the Queen Victoria Women’s Centre building will be lit up in blue as a testimony to the worldwide effort to raise awareness for diabetes and to engage the global diabetes community.

“If diabetes was a country, it would be the world’s third largest,” says Diabetes Victoria CEO Craig Bennett. “Each year, more and more people live with this condition, which can result in life-changing complications.”

In Australia, around 1.7 million people are living with diabetes and more than 300 develop diabetes every day.

Every day, more than 80 people in Victoria are diagnosed with diabetes and, of those, the vast majority have developed type 2 diabetes – which is often linked to issues such as a poor diet and a lack of regular physical activity. Just as concerning – one in every four Victorians over the age of 25 is directly impacted in some way by this condition.

This year, Diabetes Victoria have even more reason to celebrate as we mark 30 years of the Diabetes Australia Research Trust, so we are celebrating a long history of innovative diabetes research and will be acknowledging the 2018 Diabetes Australia Research Program (DARP) grant awards to Victorian researchers.

“With almost 320,000 Victorians living with diabetes, there is an increasing need to provide expert advice on how to live well with this condition,” Mr Bennett adds.

Story Courtesy of Diabetes Victoria: https://www.diabetesvic.org.au/campaigns?bdc=1