November 14, 2008 is the second United Nations World Diabetes Day. In 2007, the United Nations renamed the World Diabetes Day proposed by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) in 1991 into United Nations World Diabetes Day. This move is aimed at raising the awareness of the significance of diabetes prevention and urging governments to strengthen diabetes control so as to mitigate the harm of diabetes. The theme of this year’s World Diabetes Day is “diabetes in children and adolescents”, the same as last year’s. And the slogan is “Diabetes prevention starts in children and adolescents", and “exercise and proper weight help minimize the risks of diabetes”, with the focus on children and adolescents, and some emphasis on elderly patients with diabetes and high-risk groups.
About 246 million people worldwide suffered from diabetes in 2007. It is expected that by the year 2025, diabetes patients worldwide will increase to 380 million. At present, there are around 40 million diabetes patients in China. Diabetes has become a major public health concern doing great harm to people’s health.
A growing number of children and adolescents in Beijing are now suffering from the disease. Recently, the Beijing Diabetes Prevention and Treatment Office checked 3,719 primary and secondary school students aged 10～18 using random sampling, and found the prevalence rate of pre-diabetes a surprisingly high 3.03%, indicating that there would be a lot more new diabetes patients in Beijing.
Diabetes is induced by a variety of factors, such as family diabetes history and certain diseases. An unhealthy way of life can also lead to diabetes, and the leading causes of diabetes in children and adolescents are overweight and obesity. Diabetes complications can do great harm to people’s health: it can induce cardio-cerebrovascular disease, renal failure, retinopathy leading to blindness, thromboembolism leading to limb necrosis, etc.
Diabetes is preventable and the key is to cultivate a healthy lifestyle from an early age on.
The following five principles should be followed in diabetes prevention and treatment: exercise, proper nutrition, medication, health education and blood glucose monitoring. According to statistics, diabetes incidence among adults in Beijing is as high as 7%, while the control rate stands at a mere 15.9%, and there is a serious danger of diabetes complications. In recent years, Beijing has been carrying out prevention and treatment of four chronic diseases in urban and rural communities, diabetes being one of them. The “Self-awareness Health Management” community management model of chronic diseases popularized in Dongcheng, Xicheng and other districts has seen concrete progress. By intervening in patients' bad habits, the effective treatment rate of diabetes has gone up to 75%, helping to control the disease and save medical expenses. The model will be promoted in all Beijing districts and counties next year.
This year, on the occasion of World Diabetes Day, all health authorities in Beijing are required to promote “healthy lifestyle among the general public” and advocate the concept of “a healthy life through balanced diet and exercise” to raise awareness of diabetes prevention and treatment and encourage a healthy lifestyle.