Mark-John Clifford, our Expert columist for today, is co-founder and pioneer of multiple online diabetic communities that work in conjunction with offline grass roots groups. To read Mark’s full bio, click here.
Being an advocate for people living with diabetes I sometimes, well actually all the time, complain about the lack of awareness in this day and age.
Here we are with all of the new and exciting ways to use the Internet, television and even radio (all great mediums for awareness) and there is still a blank spot in the approach. I believe that if we want to make a difference in awareness, especially global awareness, there needs to be a newer and more effective approach.
That’s why I am helping to launch a network of grassroots communities all over the world that help to raise awareness for the disease and to provide a support network for people living with diabetes. These outreach communities will borrow many of the successful methodologies employed by other grassroots organizations, such as Greenpeace. The goal is not to supplant well-established diabetes organizations and social networking sites that are currently working hard to raise awareness and build community among people with diabetes. Rather, it is designed to complement those efforts and empower people on a very basic level to contribute their efforts more easily in their own towns, states and cities.
There is a tremendous need, especially here in the United States. As reported by Diabetes New Hound in November, 51% of Americans scored a ‘very poor’ or failing grade when it came to diabetes awareness. Almost 60% were unaware that diabetes kills more Americans than cancer and AIDS combines each year and three out of every five people didn’t know the difference between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. You can check out that article here.
Recently, diabetes has been in the news a bit more due to a push connected to American Diabetes Month sponsored by the American Diabetes Association. However, November has passed and diabetes will take a backseat again from the public eye until next year. My question is why?
The world diabetes population jumped from 250 million to 285 million people, according to recent estimates. In the U.S. alone, roughly 4,100 people are diagnosed daily. That is seven days a week, 365 days a year. There is no rest for diabetes, no holiday. So why do we take time off in the fight against this deadly disease? Every day we take off, we fall behind 4,100 people.
We as a country need to band together and fight this disease like we have fought so many others. Diabetes is considered the hidden disease, a hidden killer. I think it is time to bring that disease and killer into the light. It is time for people living with diabetes to be on the forefront of every medium out there so we as diabetics feel positive about change and make it easier for others to get involved or/and educated. Stay tuned for future updates about this effort.
(Each of the Expert columns are based on the experiences and knowledge of the individual columnists. The columns are the expert’s opinion and are meant to provide you with helpful information or differing points of view, but are not meant to be considered direct advice. Before making any decisions that could affect your health, make sure to contact a physician or the appropriate medical professional.)
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The greatest myth out there and I think this is a primal issue is the fact that diabetes is a self inflicted disease when someone hears that to fight diabetes you need to eat right and exercise then automatically they associate anyone with the disease for having done something wrong, “its your fault because you didn’t eat right and exercise”. Debunking the diabetes myths is going to be key when it comes to educating and raising awareness.