What is Diabetes?
There are two chronic (long-lasting) forms, which are Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. In simple terms, type 1 diabetes is a common disease in which your body cannot produce insulin. Whereas type 2 diabetes is a condition where your body cannot effectively use or cannot produce enough insulin.
What is Insulin?
Insulin is a hormone in your body that regulates blood sugar. When blood sugar goes up, insulin is in charge of controlling the blood sugar and allocating it into our body’s cells for future usages. Without insulin’s effect on blood sugar, blood sugar will accumulate and eventually cause detrimental effects to your body like organ failure. People with diabetes require ongoing treatment and care to their diet to efficiently work through their symptoms.
So, what is World Diabetes Day…
In 1991, World Diabetes Day (WDD) was created by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to raise awareness of the health threats from diabetes. In 2006, WDD officially became a United Nations Day and is celebrated annually on November 14, the birthday of Sir Frederick Banting who discovered insulin with Charles Best. Currently, WDD is the largest global diabetes awareness campaign for emphasizing the importance of diabetes and drawing the world’s attention to diabetes.
What can you do on WDD
Wear the blue circle! The blue circle is the world recognized symbol for diabetes awareness and logo of WDD so bringing blue to where ever you are is one of the easiest things you can do! Organizing blue lights in your neighbourhood, wearing a blue circle pin or bracelet or even promoting the blue circle on social media are just some things you can do.
You can also take this day to look more into diabetes so you can inform yourself more about this disease. Here are some resources you can look into:
