World Diabetes Day

For the first time this year, the Better Hearing Institute (BHI) is joining in the global effort to promote World Diabetes Day, which is celebrated every year on November 14—and we're encouraging hearing health professionals across America to take part!

Hearing loss is about twice as common in adults with diabetes compared to those who do not have the disease, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Yet hearing screenings typically are not part of the regular regimen of care that people with diabetes are routinely recommended to receive.

World Diabetes Day (WDD) is the primary global awareness campaign of the diabetes world. It was introduced in 1991 by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in response to the alarming rise in diabetes around the world. In 2007, the United Nations marked the Day for the first time with the passage of the United Nations World Diabetes Day Resolution in December 2006, which made the existing World Diabetes Day an official United Nations World Health Day.

Diabetes Education and Prevention is the World Diabetes Day theme for the period 2009 to 2013. The campaign slogan for 2009 is "Understand Diabetes and Take Control." Roughly 250 million people worldwide are now living with diabetes. The IDF estimates that more than 300 million people worldwide are at risk for type 2 diabetes, which can be prevented in many cases by helping and encouraging those at risk to maintain a healthy weight and exercise regularly.

We see our participation in World Diabetes Day as an important service that BHI and the hearing healthcare community can provide. We look forward to making a difference in the lives of people with diabetes by educating them on how they can identify and address diabetes-related hearing loss and take action to better preserve both their hearing health and quality of life.

There are several ways you can participate in World Diabetes Day. Here are just some ideas:

• Organize a hearing screening in your community in recognition of World Diabetes Day.
• Host a health fair.
• Host a walk or run in your community.
• Disseminate diabetes and hearing health information; or visit IDF site: About Diabetes Backgrounder; Diabetes Facts)
• Issue a press release.
• Send information through listservs.
• Hang posters in prominent locations such as your office, library, local mall, or church.
• Include a World Diabetes Day banner on your web site.

To download materials on World Diabetes Day, visit http://www.worlddiabetesday.org/en/materials.

If you do organize an event, please be sure to register it free of charge on the World Diabetes Day web site at http://www.worlddiabetesday.org/node/add/event. For more information please go to http://www.worlddiabetesday.org.