November 1, 2023
November 1st is the beginning of Diabetes Awareness Month. Celebrated throughout the world, this occasion gives us an opportunity to pause and reflect. To acknowledge that this disease continues to impact millions of people and their families in every country throughout the world. While there have been many praiseworthy strides forward in the past years toward managing the disease—strides that seemed impossible two generations ago—type 1 diabetes remains a brutal burden. A burden that can only be lifted with a cure.
The infographic below shows the global burden of type 1 diabetes throughout the world. Unlike most other prevalent diseases that appear in adulthood, 4 out of every 10 people diagnosed with T1D are children. Each child is left with no choice but to carry the load of T1D, spending every day soldiering on in a battle to survive, until a cure is found. The data shows that the annual cost of care for T1D is huge and the price of insulin, the primary medicine for treating diabetes, has risen dramatically over the past 20 years, far faster than inflation.
Last year, an estimated 175,000 died from T1D.
The disease is particularly brutal in the developing world. The mortality rate is much higher due to limited access to basic medical care and treatments like insulin, whose presence, or lack thereof, determines life or death. Estimates from the World Health Organization suggest that mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa might be as high as 30%, primarily because T1D patients are not accurately diagnosed or cannot access the necessary medications. While increased access is a near-term fix, the only long-term sustainable solution is a cure.
So, we invite you to take action this Diabetes Awareness Month and raise awareness for T1D, and for everyone who has to battle T1D every minute of every day.
