A Retrospective Look at November 14, World Diabetes Day.

The World Diabetes Day which was established as a symbolic day to create awareness on the crisis of diabetes and how it has affected the lives of victims and families has since risen to gain global recognition and following. It became a United Nations day in 2006, extending its reach to over a billion people.

The World Diabetes Day focuses on themes that drive annual campaigns. This year’s theme is The Nurse and Diabetes — dedicated to raising awareness about the crucial role nurses play in rendering their support to people who suffer from diabetes.

Nurses currently account for over half of the global health force and with the number of diabetic patients in need of education on the rise, equipping our nurses to further manage the impact of diabetes is important now more than ever.

Here are some pertinent facts and figures:

• Diabetes caused 4.2 million deaths in 2019.
• 1 in 5 people with diabetes are above 65 years old.
• 1 in 2 adults with diabetes remain undiagnosed, with a majority suffering type 2 diabetes.
• The number of people living with diabetes is expected to rise over 570 million people by 2030.

The implication of these statistics point to the urgent need for investment in the global healthcare system, with nurses being the paramount goal.

More often than not, nurses are the first line of interaction available to diabetic patients. This means that their initial assessment and care are very vital. They play key roles in:

• Diagnosing diabetes early and taking immediate action on treatment
• Providing self-management training and psychological support to patients to avoid further complications.

More pertinent facts:

• Nurses are the largest occupational group in the world, accounting for 59% of health professionals.
• The global shortage of nurses is estimated to be 5.9 million with a majority of them in low or lower-middle-income countries.
• Nursing graduates need to increase by 8% annually to overcome the predicted global shortfall by 2030.

Investing in the health workforce also has the capacity to enable us reach some of our projected SDG goals by 2030. WHO estimates a total investment of $3.9 trillion to achieve all SDG targets by 2030 a whopping 40% of that will be going into the remuneration of the health workforce.

You can get involved or informed by following the dialogue on twitter with any of these hashtags #WorldDiabetesDay #Diabetes #DiabetesCare. Read more about diabetes and world diabetes day here.

You can take an online diabetes risk assessment test here.