World Diabetes Day: Education and Prevention is the Key
Diabetes education and prevention is the theme of World Diabetes Day, held on 14 November.
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14 November 2010
Diabetes education and prevention is the theme of today, World Diabetes Day.
With more than eight hundred thousand Australians diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and this figure projected to rise substantially in the next 10-15 years, diabetes prevention and education could not be more important.
The Minister for Health and Ageing, Nicola Roxon, explained that prevention, early intervention and care in the community were primary objectives of the Gillard Government’s national health reform agenda.
“With the Australian Government investing $872 million in preventative health—the largest investment ever made in health prevention—we are making a real difference against obesity, chronic disease, alcohol misuse and tobacco use,” Ms Roxon said.
“The Government’s legislation to establish the National Preventative Health Agency, which will be critical in managing preventive health initiatives, is due to debated in the Senate in the next fortnight.”
“I urge the Senate to support this legislation, so that for the first time in Australia we will have one single agency that will bring together some of the best preventative health expertise in Australia and help take pressure off hospitals by reducing the risk of preventable illnesses.”
Both the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission and the National Preventative Health Taskforce recommended the formation of the agency.
An important part of World Diabetes Day is the World Diabetes Day Blue Monument Challenge. Tonight in Canberra, national institutions including Parliament House, Old Parliament House, the National Museum, the National Library, Questacon and the National Gallery will be bathed in blue light as a part of the challenge and to raise awareness of the Day.
World Diabetes Day is marked on 14 November, the birthday of Frederick Banting who, along with Charles Best, first conceived the idea which led to the discovery of insulin in 1922.
For all media inquiries, please contact the Minister's Office on 0409 945 476
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