November 14 is observed as World Diabetes day every year. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as of 2015, 30.3 million Americans - 9.4 percent of the U.S. population - have diabetes and more than a third of U.S. adults have prediabetes, and most don't know it. Early detection and treatment of diabetes is an important step toward keeping people with diabetes healthy and reducing their risk of serious complications. Advanced analyzers, including point of care analyzers are available for HbA1c testing to detect diabetes and pre-diabetes. These devices can report the concentration of hemoglobin in small blood or urine samples in a matter of minutes.
The International Diabetes Federation leads the World Diabetes Day (WDD) campaign to unite the global diabetes community to raise awareness about this chronic condition as well as the realities of dealing with it. In 2018, the theme of WDD is to highlight the educate the family about signs, symptoms, risks and complications of diabetes as families are in the best position to prevent the disease and seek medical care to manage.
Launched by the IDF and the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1991, WDD is observed on November 14 is because it's the birthday of Sir Frederick Banting, who discovered insulin along with Charles Best in 1922. The theme for this day for both 2018 and 2019 is "The Family and Diabetes". This theme highlights how diabetes affects not just an individual, but also spouses and children.
Diabetes is a widespread, chronic disease that can lead to complications such as heart disease, nerve damage, kidney disease, blindness, and amputations. Early detection and tight glycemic control can help mitigate the serious conditions that accompany diabetes. State-of-the-art immunoassay analyzers such the Siemens DCA Vantage simplify diabetes testing, delivering accurate, clinically relevant results quickly during the patient visit to help physicians and nurses improve patient decision-making and diabetic patient compliance.
Diabetes can be prevented or delayed with healthy lifestyle modifications. A healthy lifestyle along with right medicine (if prescribed) can help control your weight and keep blood glucose in the healthy range.
The IDF offers many ways individuals and families can get involved in WDD 2018, such as organize an activity, share WDD activities with a global audience, and more.