CROWN PRINCESS: HEALTHIER LIFE CHOICES CAN REDUCE DIABETES PROBABILITY  1    P

On World Diabetes Day, which is this year marked under the slogan “Education to protect tomorrow”, HRH Crown Princess Katherine expresses her concerns regarding the high number of people who suffer from diabetes in Serbia and sends her appeal to the people to take special care of their health, and to listen to the expert’s advice to reduce the probability of development of this disease by making healthier life choices. The International Diabetes Federation has determined the theme for World Diabetes Day in the 2021 - 2023 period to be “Access to Diabetes Care” in order to raise awareness that millions of people with diabetes around the world do not have access to diabetes care. These people require ongoing care and support to manage their condition and avoid complications. IDF appeals that medicine, technologies, support, and care should be made available to all people with diabetes that require them and call the governments to increase investment in diabetes care and prevention. The centenary of the discovery of insulin presents a unique opportunity to bring about meaningful change for the more than 530 million people living with diabetes and the millions more at risk. 1 in 10 adults is living with diabetes, where almost half are undiagnosed. Diabetes is responsible for 6.7 million deaths in the world in 2021 - 1 every 5 seconds, according to the data provided by IDF. The number of people with this disease in Serbia is over 750,000, according to the latest data available from the Institute for Public Health “Milan Jovanovic Batut”. In our country, diabetes is the fifth leading cause of death. What is especially worrying is that diabetes is increasingly being diagnosed among children and adolescents, because of the growing epidemic of obesity. Given all the above facts, those numbers could be significantly reduced by having healthier life choices and by following doctors’ advice. “It is essential that we all learn more about diabetes and that this information is available to everybody. The rising number of people affected by diabetes is putting a strain on healthcare systems. Healthcare professionals, our great doctors, have tremendous knowledge, but new findings and discoveries are being made on an almost daily basis. They must know how what are the most recent findings in order to detect and diagnose the condition early and provide the best possible care. People living with diabetes need access to ongoing education to understand their condition and carry out the daily self-care essential to staying healthy and avoiding complications. I am very concerned when I look at statistics about how many people in our country and the entire world have diabetes. These numbers could be significantly reduced by having healthier life choices, with more physical activities, proper choices of food we eat, trying to reduce stress in our lives, and occasionally checking the level of sugar in the blood. We need to listen to the doctors in this area, acknowledge their advice, and change life habits that are jeopardizing our health toward diabetes disease. Health is precious, life is a gift from God to us, and we must be responsible and do everything to preserve it”, said HRH Crown Princess Katherine.