Every year on Nov. 14, the globe unites to spread awareness about a disease that has raised much concern in the last few years: diabetes.
World Diabetes Awareness Day began in 1991 when the United Nations came together to discuss the exponential rise in diabetes around the world. This worldwide commemoration came about to educate people about the lifestyle differences between those with diabetes and defeat ignorance about the disease. The date was chosen because it was the day Frederick Banting, alongside Charles Best, first discovered the idea that led to insulin treatment in 1921.
Now, over 100 years later, World Diabetes Day is utilized to educate those who are not privy to the ins and outs of life with diabetes. There are many more modern treatments for Type One Diabetes specifically in our modern world, including insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors. These devices have been life-altering in the diabetes community, offering more specific blood glucose goals to offer the longest and most productive and convenient lives possible for those who are diagnosed.
World Diabetes Day also presents the hardships that go along with being diabetic. The world has recently become very aware of the rising insulin prices in comparison to the cost of production. Multiple companies are exploiting those with diabetes and using their need for insulin as a means of making more money. Companies could essentially charge whatever they want for insulin because those with T1D will always need it, and the world has begun to demand change. Becoming less ignorant of what diabetes really is and what really happens within the medical world can help bring us all together and help us fight for a cure.
World Diabetes Day is extremely important to creating a world where we take care of one another and fight together for others.
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