World Diabetes Day will be held on 14 November with the theme of Access to Diabetes Care – If Not Now, When?
Diabetes is sometimes described as the epidemic of the 21st century and the biggest challenge confronting Australia’s health system.
In Australia:
- Some 280 Australians develop diabetes every day, which equates to one person every five minutes.
- In total about 1.8 million Australians have diabetes, including all types of diagnosed diabetes (1.3 million known and registered) as well as silent, undiagnosed type 2 diabetes (up to 500,000 estimated).
- More than 120,000 Australians have developed diabetes in the past year.
- For every person diagnosed with diabetes there is usually a family member or carer who also ‘lives with diabetes’ every day in a support role. This means that an estimated 2.4 million Australians are affected by diabetes every day.
- Total annual cost impact of diabetes in Australia estimated at $14.6 billion.
In response to growing concerns about the escalating health threat posed by diabetes, World Diabetes Day (WDD) was created in 1991 and became an official United Nations Day in 2006.
It is the world’s largest diabetes awareness campaign reaching a global audience of more than 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 advocacy efforts throughout the year, as well as being the global driver to promote the importance of taking coordinated and concerted actions to confront diabetes as a critical global health issue
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 2021-23 is Access to Diabetes Care – If Not Now, When?.
More details are available here
