Last Updated on May 4, 2024
While millions of Americans have been diagnosed with diabetes and many more millions are affected by it, it’s not only an American problem. Diabetes continues to hinder even more millions of people across the globe. Brazil has one of the largest diabetic populations at around 14 million adults diagnosed with diabetes. India is the second largest diabetic population at almost 70 million adult diabetics. By being able to keep your diabetes under control by learning more on how to do this, you will be able to qualify for life insurance for diabetics, and we are here to help you find the best plan for you.
The International Diabetes Federation and Sanofi are working to reduce these numbers by launching their new educational program Kids and Diabetes in School (KiDS). The new program is being directed by IDF and funded by Sanofi. The KiDS program teaches children, parents, and school professionals everything they need to know about type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The information packet is split into four different sections depending on the audience; children, parents, parents of children with diabetes, and teachers.
KiDS originally launched their program in Brazil with a 1-day training session that included 9944 students, with 26 of those students having type 1 diabetes. The session was held in 15 different schools and had over 200 schools staff member and around 30 parents. Since the program’s beginning, they have educated close to 1,400 teachers, over 40,000 students.
The program has several touching success stories, but one of the most notable is from a parent of a student in a private school in India stated that, “earlier the diabetic child was not allowed to play and was asked to sit in one place but after reading this book they treat them as a normal child”, and this is just one of dozens of stories. Some media outlets that focus on New Delhi stated that there was also a focus on physical activity, which led to yoga classes in some of the participating schools. Also, many of the teachers that participated said they were more confident in their abilities to have students that are diabetic in their classes.
The goal of the program is to “foster a supportive school environment that creates a better understanding of diabetes”. The downloadable educational packet is now available in different languages: English, Russian, Spanish, Greek, French, Hindi, Arabic, Brazilian, and Chinese. As of the end of 2015, the information packet from KiDS had been downloaded close to 8,000 times, with downloads coming from all across the globe.
After the success of the first initial stages of this program, IDF is working with these governments to incorporate diabetes education into the school curriculum. Allowing the KiDS information packet (or one similar to it) into schools’ educational curriculum could have significant impacts on the overall health of the Indian and Brazilian populations. The IDF is also hoping to expand the reach of the program internationally, making it accessible to many more countries.
The leading force behind the project is the International Diabetes Federation, which has worked extremely hard to reach this point for the program. The IDF consists of over 230 organizations in 170 countries and works to represent the diabetic community across the world. Their mission is to “promote diabetes care, prevent and a cure worldwide”, and they have been doing just that since 1950.
Sanofi, the leading funding source for KiDS, is a global leader in healthcare research and diabetes. Headquartered in New Jersey, the company has affiliate companies that specialize in rare diseases, vaccines, animal health, and consumer healthcare.
As KiDS and programs like it gain popularity around the world, we can expect to see significant changes in the landscape of diabetes. More education and awareness of the symptoms, treatments, and causes of diabetes could drastically reduce the number of new diabetes diagnosis in these countries and many others. These educational programs will also reduce the number of deaths and health complications related to diabetes.
