Here are some highlights of NDAM campaigns throughout the years, as reported by DiabetesMine.
Diabetes Awareness Month Roundtable (2008). For the first time ever, the national advocacy group JDRF gathered a group of vocal diabetes bloggers to discuss November outreach activities and more. One advocate at that event noted: “Diabetes awareness is important because it translates into a greater understanding of (and by extension, compassion for) those living with the disease; an increased willingness by schools, companies, and other organizations to make accommodations when and where needed; and a larger number of people providing more vigorous support toward finding a cure.”
Help a Child in Rwanda (2010). The inspiring all-diabetic pro cycling Team Type 1 conducted a ‘Thinking Globally’ on diabetes campaign aimed at helping people with diabetes in developing countries get access to lifesaving insulin and diabetes supplies. They focused specifically on Rwanda, where life expectancy is less than 5 years with diabetes. For WDD in San Francisco that year, we also saw the kick-off of a fun new fitness program, Dance Out Diabetes.
T1 Day (2011). The JDRF kicked off NDAM on Nov. 1, 2011, with the first-ever “type 1 diabetes awareness day” program, appropriately called T1 Day. The org also had the opportunity to appear on the Today Show in New York at the start of November, while in San Francisco there were diabetes-inspired flash mobs happening.
Blogger Outreach (2012). Many in the Diabetes Online Community (DOC) were “Thinking Blue, Going Blue” in November 2012, and many diabetes bloggers also recognized the eighth annual Diabetes Blog Day, in which bloggers rally around a cause. The theme in 2012 was media awareness — encouraging bloggers to write open letters to national media outlets such as the NY Times, CNN, or a local/national newspaper or TV station about why it’s so important for them to let the world know that diabetes is about more than just having overweight or eating too much sugar.
The Big Blue Test and More (2013). A new smartphone app was introduced this year for The Big Blue Test, a campaign of the now-defunct Diabetes Hands Foundation that encouraged people to check their blood sugar, be physically active for 14 minutes, and test again to see the impact of exercise on blood sugar levels. This year also marked the debut of the JDRF’s marketing campaign, “Turning Type One Into Type None.” We also saw the former World Diabetes Day Postcard Exchange grow in popularity.
Diabetes Nation + Blue Circle Apps (2014). A campaign called “State of Diabetes” was launched by a New York health insurance marketing agency, Area 23, to call attention to the massive size of the problem. The idea was that with 343 million people worldwide living with type 2 diabetes, it should be time to move beyond the UN Resolution and actually ask the UN to designate “Diabetes” as an official country on its own. Whoa! Area 23 was also filming a documentary to help raise awareness about type 2 globally. Also, the IDF introduced a new Blue Circle selfie app, along with their “Pin a Personality” initiative, promoting awareness by publicly placing Blue Circle pins on celebrities. More than 50,000 were distributed, including one to Bradley Whitford, best known for his TV role as White House exec Josh Lyman on the West Wing.
Healthy Eating Awareness (2015). The ADA and IDF focused on the theme of educating people about healthy eating. This marked the beginning of a larger, ongoing effort to recognize the fact that “a healthy eating plan is extremely important to meet blood glucose targets and avoid complications related to untreated or poorly managed diabetes.”
Diabetes Awareness (2018). That year, IDF announced a 2-year theme focus on “Family and Diabetes.” It’s a broad topic, but the IDF said the point was to raise awareness of the impact that diabetes has on the family and support network of those affected, and promote the role of the family in the management, care, prevention and education of diabetes.
Hashtag Campaigns (2019). This year, lots of orgs launched new awareness initiatives via social media, such as the ADA’s #CountMeIn campaign that encouraged people at risk for type 2 diabetes to take an online risk test and get their A1C measured at Walmart or CVS; Beyond Type 1’s #TheDropSpotted campaign aiming to make this invisible disease visible; and the JDRF’s #T1DChampions campaign to celebrate people’s accomplishments despite this illness.
The COVID-19 Year (2020). The pandemic turned everything on its head, and that included diabetes awareness efforts and World Diabetes Day. However, many of the big orgs told DiabetesMine that awareness remained ever-important even in the face of this new global health crisis.
If you know of specific 2021 NDAM and WDD activities you’d like us to highlight, please ping us via email, or on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
This content was originally published here.