Kenya marks World Diabetes Day
This year’s World Diabetes day, to be marked on November 14, will focus on the disadvantaged and the vulnerable members of society.
According to Dr Eric Mngola, the chairman of te Kenya Diabetes Associaton, the World Diabetes Day 2006 campaign slogan is “diabetes care for everyone.”
World Diabetes Day campaigns and celebrations involve the entire global diabetes community. The year-long campaign sought to raise awareness and to underscore the message that every person with diabetes or at risk of diabetes deserves the best quality of education, prevention and care possible.
There is increasing need to draw more public attention to communities and groups that are disadvantaged or vulnerable in terms of their access to appropriate diabetes education prevention and care.
Other objectives are to:
• Increase awareness among the international assistance community of the need to provide greater funding for non-communicable diseases.
• Focus the attention of the public and private sectors on the low levels of investment in diabetes education, prevention and care.
• Persuade governments to tighten the welfare net so that individuals with diabetes do not slip through.
• Raise awareness among people with diabetes or at risk of diabetes of the education, prevention and care available to them.
• Engage networks, groups and individuals working with target communities to join the campaign and promote the campaign messages.
• Share best practice in diabetes education, prevention and care that targets disadvantaged and vulnerable groups.
• Stimulate research that will foster a better understanding of the socio-cultural origins of diabetes among disadvantaged and vulnerable communities in order to inform the development of policies and practices that are culturally relevant to the prevention and management of diabetes.
• Support the global campaign for a UN Resolution on diabetes.
The 2006 World Diabetes Day campaign marks the end of the first phase of the Joint IDF-WHO Diabetes Action Now project.
Many people The in both developed and developing countries experience difficulties in accessing optimal healthcare because they are outside the healthcare system, or for some reason are less likely to access or are less aware of the services available to them.
Depending on local circumstances, disadvantaged or vulnerable people are unable to access diabetes care will differ. In some countries, it may be a lack of health infrastructure or a problem of geography that is the problem. In others, it may be that insurance does not cover all citizens or that specific groups such as indigenous or migrant populations are less likely to receive optimal diabetes care.
Organizations such as IDF and its members associations, WHO, governments and health and social services have a responsibility to recognize this problem on a global scale and to search for solutions at regional, national and local levels.
The activities for the 2006 campaign have been promoting the importance of providing disadvantaged communities and vulnerable groups with appropriate diabetes care, prevention and education.
from: Diabetes Focus, October-November 2006 Published By Oakland Media Services Limited. email: info@oaklandmedia.com
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