NIDDK

On June 23, 1998, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) launched the National Diabetes Education Program's (NDEP) Control Your Diabetes. For Life campaign to encourage the 16 million Americans with diabetes to control their blood sugar levels. The NDEP is a federally sponsored initiative that involves both public and private partners to improve the treatment and outcomes for people with diabetes, promote early diagnosis, and ultimately prevent the onset of the disease.

"Control can make an enormous difference in the lives of people with diabetes," said Charles M. Clark, Jr., M.D., chair of the NDEP. "We want to empower people with diabetes to take charge of their disease, and to dispel fatalistic attitudes towards the disease."

About 5.4 million Americans with diabetes have not been diagnosed. Public awareness about diabetes is low, despite the fact that the disease is one of the leading causes of death and disability in the United States. The annual costs of diabetes are rising and are now estimated at $98 billion a year. The prevalence of diabetes is increasing for three reasons: the aging of the U.S. population, the growth in minority populations most susceptible to type 2 diabetes, and the increasing prevalence of obesity among Americans. Obesity is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes.

Racial and ethnic minorities, specifically African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, and Native Americans, suffer disproportionately from diabetes. "Minority populations are greatly affected by diabetes and they experience higher rates of eye disease, kidney disease, amputations, and premature deaths," said U.S. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher. "The National Diabetes Education Program is a key strategy of the recently announced President's Initiative on Race, which is designed to improve the health status of America's racial and ethnic populations."

By showing "the many faces of diabetes," the Control Your Diabetes. For Life campaign messages should raise awareness about the importance of controlling diabetes, especially among minority populations. The campaign will deliver its messages through television, radio, and print public service announcements and through messages delivered by the NDEP's Partnership Network of more than 100 public and private sector organizations.

"Research shows that aggressive treatment with diet, physical activity, and new medicines will prevent or delay much of the illness and death from diabetes," said Dr. Phillip Gorden, director of NIDDK. "Through the NDEP, we hope to get the message out that diabetes is serious, common, and costly -- but controllable," said Dr. Gorden. "We hope the NDEP will act as the vehicle through which scientific findings about diabetes are translated into information that people can use."

Also unveiled at the NDEP campaign's launch was the program's Principles of Diabetes Care, which will be distributed to health care providers and people with diabetes. "The Principles describe the essential components of good diabetes management, while leaving the specifics of good care up to the person with diabetes and his or her health care team," said Dr. Clark.

The objectives for the NDEP are:

• To increase public awareness of the seriousness of diabetes
• To improve understanding about diabetes and its control among people who have diabetes
• To improve health care providers' understanding of diabetes control
• To promote health care policies that improve the quality of and access to diabetes care