Diabetes now claims as many lives as HIV/AIDS, according to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) which recently launched the Unite for Diabetes campaign.

The campaign aims to encourage government support for the United Nations Resolution on diabetes by highlighting the alarming rise in diabetes world-wide in order to raise awareness and improve care.

IDF is leading the global diabetes community in an effort to secure the UN Resolution on or around World Diabetes Day ? November 14, 2007.

The resolution seeks to have the United Nations officially acknowledge the global epidemic and needs the support of 96 nations.

Debbie Jones, chairperson of the North American region of IDF, represented Bermuda recently at the annual American Diabetes Association Scientific Meeting in Washington D.C.

The IDF represents more than 190 diabetes associations around the world, the Bermuda Diabetes Association being one of them. About 20 percent of Bermuda?s population has diabetes and in people over 65 the figures are as high as 1 in 3 women and 1 in 5 men.

Mrs. Jones said: ?The numbers of newly diagnosed people with Type 2 diabetes are overwhelming us. Twenty seven years ago when the Bermuda Diabetes Association was formed Type 2 diabetes was almost unheard of. Now it is the biggest non-communicable epidemic that the world has ever seen.?

Wearing her ?Unite for Diabetes? campaign pin with pride she said: ?Over 12,000 people attended the ADA conference. For the first time people are proud to be working towards making diabetes extinct.?

She explained the importance of the UN Resolution: ?We have been working with the government for the past ten years for the health and success programme in schools but physical activity still isn?t mandated. If we had a UN Resolution it would be easier to have schools increase physical activity.?

She cited an example of the influence of past health resolutions. ?A UN Resolution was passed that said cigarette packets had to print warning labels such as, smoking kills, and it was that UN Resolution that encouraged legislation to ban smoking in public places.?

Commenting on what she hoped would be the impact of a UN Resolution on diabetes Mrs. Jones said: ?Basically unless we get children doing more physical activity in schools and eating more fresh fruit and vegetables and unless we get soda vending machines banned in schools we have no hope in containing this epidemic. The UN Resolution will highlight the need for governments to pay attention.?

New data from IDF shows that over 230 million people, which is more than six percent of the world?s adult population, live with diabetes and this is expected to rise to 350 million in the next 20 years if action is not taken. The disease actually threatens to subvert the gains of economic development as seven out of the ten countries with the highest number of people living with diabetes are in the developing world.

?Diabetes is emerging fast as one of the biggest health catastrophes the world has ever seen. The diabetic epidemic will overwhelm healthcare resources everywhere if governments do not wake up and take action now,? said Professor Martin Silink, president-elect of IDF.

According to the IDF diabetes claims as many lives as HIV/AIDS, but there is a lack of awareness of the huge global threat diabetes causes. Every ten seconds a person dies from diabetes-related causes and this figure is expected to rise by 25 percent over the next decade. According to the World Health Organisation, the disease could reduce life expectancy globally for the first time in 200 years.

?The international community needs to start taking the threat seriously. We must join forces in our fight against diabetes, otherwise we will jeopardise the health and lives of millions,? said Professor Lef?bvre, president of IDF. ?Diabetes can be effectively managed, its impact reduced and its onset in many cases prevented completely,? he added.

Data from the Diabetes Atlas says that 80 percent of Type 2 Diabetes could be prevented with a change of diet and increased exercise. Type 1 is not preventable and predominantly affects youth, rising at a rate of three percent per year world-wide.

According to the IDF these trends are not just health issues but something that needs the attention of governments and the international community. A United Nations Resolution on diabetes will recognise the global burden of the diabetes and focus world attention on the need for immediate action. IDF hopes that a UN Resolution on diabetes will prompt decision-makers to take preventative actions against the growing health challenge.