Local Entertainer Alison Hinds is this year championing the fight against childhood Diabetes in Barbados. She is joining the Barbados Diabetes Foundation and the Diabetes Association of Barbados as they promote awareness this month November, World Diabetes Month.
The major event in Barbados will be the Global Village Expo at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Conference Centre, on Thursday November 13 and Friday
November 14, World Diabetes Day. It will be an exhibition of products
and services targeted at the diabetic but also general in nature with
interests for the entire family.
The Expo has also included some new features since its launch last year such as a reading area by the National Library Service, an exercise and dance area, and an onstage programme featuring fashion and entertainment.
One of the goals of World Diabetes Day this year is to improve understanding of the dangers of uncontrolled type 1 diabetes and familiarize people with the warning signs. Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA), a build-up of excess acids in the body as a result of uncontrolled diabetes, is the major cause of death in children with type 1 diabetes.
With early diagnosis and access to care, the development of severe DKA should be preventable.
The incidence of diabetic ketoacidosis at diagnosis of type 1 diabetes ranges from approximately 15% to 80% in different parts of the world. The lower numbers are usually from countries with a higher incidence, and where public awareness of the warning symptoms and access to care is highest. With the current world crisis for diabetes in children, the organizations are hoping to see a number of the local schools coming to the Expo, and being exposed to the information.
In 1991, a successful campaign carried out in Parma, Italy, showed that a poster-based awareness campaign, with the posters displayed in schools, at the offices of primary care givers and in paediatric centres, could reduce the frequency of DKA in children at diagnosis.
The local organizations are hoping that their schools’ poster competitions, essay competitions and the exposure at the Global Village will have a similar effect.
The Global Village is sponsored by Simpson Motors, Colgate Palmolive, Bank of Butterfield, Go Ahead! 7K, Run Barbados and the Maria Holder Memorial Foundation.
