I just found out there is a world diabetes day today. I was told yesterday! Just so you know, we will be checking blood sugar at our booth this Saturday at Turkey Trot!! Come make sure you are not in the statistics below! We can let you know if you are pre-diabetic or even a diabetic and you don’t know it. Please get checked!
It may be a pipe dream of mine but I would like to see Alabama be number one in the reduction of diabetes across the country. That is why we have this Agroshare page!! Please pass the word on for people to join and learn about how to prevent this horrible disease. If you come register this weekend you will get your name in a drawing for a free T-shirt and you will have free access to teaching on how to prevent diabetes!!
WORLD DIABETES DAY
World Diabetes Day (WDD) was created in 1991 by IDF and the World Health Organization in response to growing concerns about the escalating health threat posed by diabetes. World Diabetes Day became an official United Nations Day in 2006 with the passage of United Nation Resolution 61/225. It is marked every year on 14 November, the birthday of Sir Frederick Banting, who co-discovered insulin along with Charles Best in 1922.
WDD is the world’s largest diabetes awareness campaign reaching a global audience of over 1 billion people in more than 160 countries. The campaign draws attention to issues of paramount importance to the diabetes world and keeps diabetes firmly in the public and political spotlight.
The World Diabetes Day campaign aims to be the:
- Platform to promote IDF advocacy efforts throughout the year.
- Global driver to promote the importance of taking coordinated and concerted actions to confront diabetes as a critical global health issue
The campaign is represented by a blue circle logo that was adopted in 2007 after the passage of the UN Resolution on diabetes. The blue circle is the global symbol for diabetes awareness. It signifies the unity of the global diabetes community in response to the diabetes epidemic.
Every year, the World Diabetes Day campaign focuses on a dedicated theme that runs for one or more years. The theme for World Diabetes Day 2019 is Family and Diabetes.
So I want to post some information you may not know about diabetes, especially as it relates to Alabama and our local area!
https://www.alabamapublichealth.gov/healthrankings/diabetes.html
Alabama had the third highest prevalence of diabetes in the United States in 2012. In addition, diabetes was the seventh leading cause of death in 2013, with 1,346 dying of the disease. More than 12 percent of Alabama’s adults have been diagnosed with diabetes, but many with the condition are undiagnosed. African Americans are significantly more likely to have and to die of diabetes. Diabetes is inversely related to income and education. Diabetes risk increases dramatically with age. Also, diabetes often operates in tandem with heart disease, stroke, blindness, renal failure, and poor circulation causing debilitation. Poor diets, high in fats and processed sugars, and lack of exercise are risk factors for diabetes. Type I diabetes is hereditary but Type II is due to life style factors.
http://main.diabetes.org/dorg/PDFs/Advocacy/burden-of-diabetes/alabama.pdf
The Burden of Diabetes in Alabama Diabetes is growing at an epidemic rate in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 30 million Americans have diabetes and face its devastating consequences. What’s true nationwide is also true in Alabama. Alabama’s diabetes epidemic: Approximately 610,458 people in Alabama, or 15.2% of the adult population, have diabetes. Of these, an estimated 127,000 have diabetes but don’t know it, greatly increasing their health risk. In addition, 1,334,000 people in Alabama, 37% of the adult population, have prediabetes with blood glucose levels higher than normal but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. Every year an estimated 31,000 people in Alabama are diagnosed with diabetes. Diabetes is expensive: People with diabetes have medical expenses approximately 2.3 times higher than those who do not have diabetes. Total direct medical expenses for diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes, prediabetes and gestational diabetes in Alabama was estimated at $4 billion in 2012. In addition, another $1.4 billion was spent on indirect costs from lost productivity due to diabetes. Improving lives, preventing diabetes and finding a cure: In 2015, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at the National Institutes of Health invested $19,742,725 in diabetes-related research projects in Alabama. The Division of Diabetes Translation at the CDC spent $521,771 on diabetes prevention and educational programs in Alabama in 2016.
Diabetes and prediabetes cost an estimated $5.4 billion in Alabama each year. The serious include heart disease, stroke, amputation, end-stage kidney disease, blindness – and death.
