November 14 is World Diabetes Day

Go here to see how the world can join in in fighting this disease.

On 20 December 2006, the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 61/225. This landmark Resolution recognizes diabetes as a chronic, debilitating and costly disease associated with major complications that pose severe risks for families, countries and the entire world. It designates 14 November, the current World Diabetes Day, as a United Nations Day to be observed every year beginning in 2007.

Diabetes in Children and Adolescents

The theme of this year’s World Diabetes Day campaign is Diabetes in Children and Adolescents.Diabetes is one of the most common chronic diseases of childhood. It can strike children at any age, including pre-school children and even toddlers. Yet diabetes in children is often diagnosed late, when the child has diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), or it is misdiagnosed completely. In many parts of the world, insulin, the main life-saving medication that children with diabetes need to survive, is not available (or is available but remains inaccessible for reasons of economy, geography or constraints on supply). As a consequence, many children die of diabetes, particularly in low and middle-income countries. Those closest to the child - family, school staff, family doctor - may not be aware of the ominous signs. The World Diabetes Day 2007 and 2008 campaigns set out to challenge this and firmly establish the message that ‘no child should die of diabetes’.

Governments have acknowledged that diabetes is increasing at epidemic rates and is affecting all countries. For the first time, a non-infectious disease has been seen as posing as serious a global health threat as infectious epidemics such as HIV/AIDS.

Update: If you are going to be in San Francisco be sure to go and visit Coit Tower. Read more about it at Diabetes Mine.

FDA seeks comments on BGMS (essentially diabetic products using fingerstick method) Total Product Life Cycle for Portable Invasive Blood Glucose Monitoring Systems (BGMS) - Draft Guidance for Industry and FDA Staff

JANUVIA(TM) (sitagliptin phosphate) is coming soon

If approved, JANUVIA would potentially be the first in a new class of oral medications (DPP-4 inhibitors) that enhances the body’s own ability to lower blood sugar (glucose) when it is elevated.

Feds Warn Of Counterfeit Diabetes Tests counterfeit blood glucose test strips reportedly being sold in the United States (consumeraffairs.com)

Blood Glucose Monitoring Market Gets a Bit Crowded -MDL Newsletter.

Not crowded enough perhaps. With diabetes growing at an alarming rate the best the industry could come up with in this day an age is invasive instruments [Read more →]

Sibaya supports Unite for Diabetes -