In a world where nearly 70,000 children are diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes each year, making it one of the most chronic diseases during childhood, World Diabetes Day celebrated on November 14th 2008 by the International Diabetes Federation and the WHO, rightly focuses on ‘Caring for children and adolescents with diabetes’ as the central theme of initiatives this year.

An innovative way to create awareness on diabetes among school kids is to lace it cleverly with entertainment and make it a fun affair so that the message can get ingrained in the psyche of the kids. The organizers of MV Hospital for Diabetes and Research Center in Chennai, India very successfully achieved their objective and organized day-long activities on health education.

Medindia spoke to Dr.Vijay Viswanathan, MD, Ph.D, MNAMS, Managing Director of M.V. Hospital for Diabetes and Diabetes Research Center at Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, a WHO Collaborating Center for Education, Research and Training in Diabetes. Medindia heard the doctor’s views on the awareness, prevalence and management of diabetes in this part of the world.

Diabetes has a unique impact on the lives of adolescents. According to IDF, children and adolescents with diabetes face a lifetime of living with a disease that poses particular challenges for them. Globally there are 500,000 children under age 15 with type 1 diabetes. The majority of children (85%) with type 2 diabetes are overweight or obese at the time of diagnosis.

Stigma-related to diabetes, is particularly more pronounced for girls. Stigma, in response to illness, is not a new issue in some parts of the world. It has long been associated with mental illness, physical disability, leprosy, cancer and tuberculosis. However, diabetes-related stigma is particularly severe as diabetes is a life-threatening chronic condition.

Diabetics forfeit lots of money to manage their disease, but there is a lot more they get to lose! World Diabetes Day is celebrated annually to create awareness in order to prevent many diabetes-related complications that are extremely devastating.

Diabetes is rightly labelled as a lifestyle disease, but it doesn't imply that the poor and underserved communities are not at risk of diabetes. In fact, the World Diabetes Day (WDD) was created by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the World Health Organization in 1991, to draw attention of the world community towards escalating incidences of diabetes amongst the rich and poor, old and young alike.

Diabetes is one of the most common chronic diseases to affect children. Every day more than 200 children are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, requiring them to take multiple daily insulin shots and to monitor the glucose level in their blood. It is increasing at a rate of 3% each year among children and rising even faster in pre-school children at a rate of 5% per year.

A Regular exercise regimen in the diabetes-afflicted helps in the better control of blood sugar and reduces the demand for medication by 20%. Exercise is often advised as the only form of therapy in diabetes when the sugar level is between below 200 to 250 mg/dl. Patients with Type 2 diabetes, who regularly exercise, find that their blood glucose is better controlled.

Yoga provides an alternate source of healing for diabetes. Yoga helps to strengthen the immune system, improves blood circulation and the flow of vital energy or prana to the internal organs of the body. The secretion of stress hormones, due to faulty diet, hectic lifestyle or wrong thinking is controlled by the practice of yoga.