Firstly, I’d like to introduce myself. My name’s Martin Salkow, I’m a 23 year old student and I live in Johannesburg, South Africa. IV had type 1 diabetes for 17 years and counting… I am one of the IDF Youth Ambassadors. 

I live in a country that is considered to be a developing country yet I’m one of the fortunate ones that has access to private healthcare. By saying this I mean that I have access to the best possible diabetic healthcare and technology. Unfortunately, not all people with diabetes living in South Africa are as privileged as me. Many people with diabetes in South Africa have to stand in long queues for hours at a time at a local clinic to receive a checked up and receive bare minimum, inadequate Diabetic Supplies. Yet, these people are still really fortunate that they still have access to some type of basic diabetic healthcare. The point that I wish to put across is that there are many people throughout the world who don’t have any access to even this type of basic and necessary healthcare and these basic diabetic supplies. I believe that diabetic supplies are a lot cheaper in developed countries due to government subsidies. I know for certain that the prices of such supplies in developing countries are a lot higher and less accessible. 

In Zimbabwe, the situation is currently critical and children who don’t have the necessary insulin are dying: 

For those of you who are reading this, please take a moment to visit http://www.lifeforachild.org/ and donate any funds that you have to spare. I promise you now that the donated money is really going to make a significant difference to the person on the receiving end of your funds.

 Martin

On January 31, the New York City Health Department released dire statistics from the city’s Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. It has now become apparent that even where access to healthcare and education is available, Diabetes is becoming one of the most dangerous diseases for complications and early death.

According to Newsday.com’s writer John Mareno Gonzales, “The findings…provide the clearest picture yet of what researchers called a growing diabetes epidemic…” Read the rest of this entry »

I admit that I’m a control freak. But isn’t that natural? Right now, my life is about control. I have to plan trips to the grocery store, public library, and the cafeteria for meals. I have to schedule classes, attend meetings, and plan to study for tests. I have to meticulously schedule in rare outings with friends or my tv binge of 2 hours on Sunday nights. And this is just part of me being a college student.

The other part of me is like my evil twin. But my evil twin doesn’t like schedules. Even when I plan to test my blood sugar exactly two hours after dinner, it decides to play along and spike high right after then. My evil twin likes to wreak havoc on my sleeping schedule- in addition to dealing with rowdy roommates at 2 or 3am, my evil twin is forcing me to down ‘empty calories’, or sweat through an entire bottle of water .

My evil twin is my diabetes.

I think diabetes has a large part to do with my control-freak tendencies. People keep telling me “don’t worry about it” when I talk about planning my future, “You’ll figure out what you want to do. Be patient and just see what happens.” But I can’t stand to wait!

Waiting implies laziness to me. Waiting means that something can randomly surge, happen, and ruin any potential path I wanted to follow but had not yet step foot on. Waiting to take action or plan ahead can mean a lot of diffitculties.

If I don’t try and plan my life, what else can I control? Certainly not my diabetes. Last week, I had a huge problem with lows. I kept dropping to the 40s. I’d eat ‘good carbs’ for dinner, bolus 50% of what I normally do, and drop within two hours. Even better, I suspended my pump for four hours, had two meals, and remained at 80 the entire time. Had I not planned to severely limit my insulin take that afternoon, there’s not telling what could have happened.

We (people with diabetes) are told to stay in ‘good control’, but how can we possibly ALWAYS accomplish this goals? There are so many more variables to living with diabetes than food, exercise, insulin shots, and glucose testing. Particularly as a still-growing teenager, raging hormones aren’t a ‘+’ in my mental pro/con list of diabetes. It’s hard to plan when I’ll be stressed or excited and which way these emotions will affect my blood sugars.

I HAVE to plan ahead. The way I see it, life can’t be a catch-up game, and dealing with diabetes is too hard to play that way, either. My evil twin may be a mischevious toddler, but at 18 and living away at college I have to step up, be the adult, and watch ahead for any potential dangers. So please, understand my tendencies to want to control or at the very least attempt to plan ahead to maintain my sanity and help take care of my diabetes!

*Dana*

1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi….Perhaps this is a childish idea, but even though I dislike math, I love the thought of being able to track time and be in control of the numbers. Ironically, it’s pretty hard to measure exact seconds without reference a clock or time piece of some sort. Similarly, it’s pretty hard to know exactly how many grams of carbohydrates are in a serving of casserole at a university’s dining hall. As much as I tried, my boluses (using my insulin pump) were always too much or not enough. A bunch of other factors were now also playing games with my blood sugars: a crazy class schedule with really late meals, more or less exercise each day, stress, and learning to live in a dorm. Still, after a month or so I decided I should at least try to get a handle on a factor I could control to some degree, and thus contacted the food providers for the campus dining facilities.

After a busy couple of days celebrating and spreading the word about the success of the UN Resolution, most of us are posed with the question “What now?” - something which will dictate what you can do from now on.

The passing of the UN Resolution gives us not only integrity and legitimacy as a movement, but also the moral standing to continue our work. Instead of directing our aims at a larger global initiative to garner support, we should now direct out efforts to a local scale - lobbying decision makers, speaking at Diabetes events, writing letters to key takeholders, and other activities which are relevant for your locality.

The aim of the campaign hasn’t changed: we want to change diabetes and bring together one billion people worldwide. To do this, we must now focus our efforts with the backing of the UN Resolution, towards making local, relevant policies and lobbying for them.

Keep celebrating the wonderful news and keep working hard! Together, we can make a change!

Alex

On December 20, a landmark resolution was passed by the United Nations General Assembly recognizing the global threat of the diabetes epidemic.

Yes, that’s right. For the first time ever, governments are acknowledging that a non-infectious disease is posing as serious a threat to global populations and their health like HIV/AIDS and malaria.

The “Unite for Diabetes” Campaign has focused its efforts on getting this UN Resolution passed- let me remind you what it does! The Resolution designates World Diabetes Day as November 14th and as a United Nations Day to be observed every year, from 2007 extending into the future. It calls on all UN Member States to observe the day on all nations to develop national policies for the prevention, treatment, and care of diabetes.

We have successfully passed this UN resolution on diabetes. BUT we are all still needed to Unite for Diabetes! We can all use the passing of the resolution to boost our advocacy efforts on behalf of all those affected by diabetes to the next level.

Have you had a successful experience in an advocacy or media effort? Let everyone know! Leave a note here sharing what worked ( a certain approach with media, perhaps) and what made your work harder. Let’s Unite for Diabetes!

 *Dana*

20,000 Travel Bugs are being set on the loose! And no, this isn’t a new complication of diabetes, but a fun new addition to the Unite for Diabetes Campaign. Each Travel Bug is a metal tag with the official blue circle pin of Unite for Diabetes and is dedicated to a specific city in the world and to those who live there with diabetes. Our goal is for each Travel Bug to reach its designated city and help spread awareness about diabetes!

To do so, you become a “geocacher” and place the travel bug into a “geocache” near your home, work, or when you travel. For more information about “geocaching” and the Unite for Diabetes Travel Bug challenge (and how to get a travel bug), check out http://unite.geocaching.com/!

I went ‘geocaching’ while in Cape Town, South Africa and had a blast! After you get your coordinates from the website, you take a hand held GPS device and pretty much search around the area until you find the geocache-and inside are always some fun surprises. Don’t forget to leave your travel bug for someone else so they can help it move on and spread awareness about diabetes!

Dana

(Here is a picture of me geocaching in Cape Town on Signal Hill!)

Hi everyone,

In Cape Town we played with Flying Circles to show our support to Unite for Diabetes Campaign. Now you can show your support too. You can register your Flying Circle on Unite for Diabetes website (www.unitefordiabetes.org) and trace the way of the support around the world.

Enjoy with us!

Gaby

Hi, welcome to our blog.

Have a look at this video where Clare Rosenfeld and I talk about the Unite for Diabetes campaign. More soon…

Alex