The United NationsGeneral Assembly adopted resolution 61/225 designating 14 November as World Diabetes Day in 2007. The document recognized “the urgent need to pursue multilateral efforts to promote and improve human health, and provide access to treatment and health-care education.” The resolution also encouraged Member States to develop national policies for the prevention, treatment and care of diabetes in line with the sustainable development of their health-care systems.

FORUM: Nurses make the difference - World Diabetes Day 2020.

The theme for World Diabetes Day 2020 is "The Nurse and Diabetes." Nurses currently account for over half of the global health workforce. They do outstanding work to support people living with a wide range of health concerns. People who either live with diabetes or are at risk of developing the condition need their support too. People living with diabetes face a number of challenges, and education is vital to equip nurses with the skills to support them. Diabetes is a chronic disease, which occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin, or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. This leads to an increased concentration of glucose in the blood (hyperglycaemia).

• Type 1 diabetes (previously known as insulin-dependent or childhood-onset diabetes) is characterized by a lack of insulin production.

• Type 2 diabetes (formerly called non-insulin-dependent or adult-onset diabetes) is caused by the body’s ineffective use of insulin. It often results from excess body weight and physical inactivity.

• Gestational diabetes is hyperglycaemia that is first recognized during pregnancy.

Statement by the United Nations Secretary-General on World Diabetes Day 2020, November 14th;

Many efforts have been made to prevent and treat diabetes. Yet the number of people with diabetes is going up. What’s more, it is rising most rapidly in low- and middle-income countries, the countries least well-equipped with the diagnostics, medicines, and knowledge to provide life-saving treatment.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought additional pain. Many people who require regular care and treatment for their diabetes have struggled to access that care. And people with diabetes are at increased risk of severe disease and death from COVID-19.

Next year, the World Health Organization will launch the Global Diabetes Compact, a new initiative that will bring structure and coherence to our complementary efforts to reduce the burden of diabetes.

Let us work together to make sure that, through this ambitious and much-needed collaboration, we will soon be talking about the decline in diabetes as a public health problem. And as we strive to overcome the pandemic, let us do our utmost to ensure Universal Health Coverage, strengthen health systems and advance good health and resilience for all.

António Guterres, U.N. Secretary General.

CAMPAIGN: Let's raise awareness around the crucial role that nurses play in supporting people living with diabetes. A healthy diet, regular physical activity, maintaining a normal body weight and avoiding tobacco use are ways to prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes. Diabetes can be treated and its consequences avoided or delayed with diet, physical activity, medication and regular screening and treatment for complications.

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