Opinion Piece for World Diabetes Day 14 November 2009
Prevention for type 1 diabetes is out there. Education starts here.
Education and prevention are the themes chosen for the year’s big day for diabetes – World Diabetes Day
on November 14.
We believe that it is time for re-education – we need to go back to school on diabetes to understand that it
isn’t just a disease of the ‘junk food generation’.
While type 2 diabetes is still the most common type affecting the Australian community, the incidence of
type 1 diabetes is dramatically increasing, particularly in children.
The known lifestyle factors associated with type 2 diabetes and the obesity epidemic dominates the media.
Understandably, people with type 1 diabetes – which no amount of exercise will cure – are inclined to keep
their condition quiet. This is a missed opportunity to educate the community about the differences.
JDRF research has shown that people affected by type 1 diabetes are deeply concerned by the extent to
which the disease is misunderstood. Nearly half of all parents have been made to feel (inaccurately) that
their child’s disease was their fault. A quarter of adult respondents and one in ten children have been
clinically diagnosed with depression or anxiety. There is an unfortunate gap between the facts about type 1
diabetes, media hype about the obesity epidemic and community understanding of this complex condition.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease, striking young people without warning in the prime of their life.
It results in a lifetime of insulin injections, fingerprick blood tests and the constant fear of associated health
complications. There is no cure and no prevention – yet.
Advances are being made. Research organisations such as the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation are
working in partnership with the Australian Government to encourage research and support clinical trials.
We are closer than ever to preventing and curing type 1 diabetes, with human trials of a vaccine taking
place right here in Australia. A focus on preventative strategies should not exclude the 140,000 Australians
that already live with type 1 diabetes, so we are also investigating new ways to replace and regenerate the
cells that produce insulin, stop the immune system dysfunction that kills off the cells and better manage
blood glucose to improve long term health outcomes.
Use World Diabetes Day to get educated. If you meet a person with type 1, please don’t offer them diet or
exercise advice to “help” them manage their condition. Understand that sometimes they have to eat sugary
foods or inject insulin in front of you to survive.
Finally, let’s lose the stereotypes and focus on encouraging investment in medical research and public
health to deliver further improvements in health and a better quality of life for all people with diabetes.
Mike Wilson
Chief Executive Officer
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (Australia)
Ph (02) 9966 0400
NEWS 
