About the Youth Panel
We are the Novo Nordisk youth panel, a group of 15 young people coming from 12 different countries around the world, among them The Netherlands, USA, Denmark, Russia, Italy, Brazil and Jordan. Some of us are university students; some of us have full-time jobs. Our career choices range from political science over communication to nursing and scientific research. We have very diverse leisure interests which include sailing, cycling, blogging, running and music.
Our common platform
So you can ask yourself, do we have anything in common?? The answer is a clear YES! Our common interest is diabetes. Some of us have diabetes – either type 1 or type 2 – and some of us have not. But those of us who do not have diabetes have an interest in knowing more about this silent killer and to contribute to raising awareness about diabetes both in our home countries but also on the international scene. And diabetes or not, we all want to make a difference for the people who suffer from this disease, or those who are at risk for getting type 2 diabetes.
Facts we are facing
Diabetes kills one person every ten seconds. Today, more than 246 million people worldwide are living with diabetes and by 2025, this total is expected to increase to 380 million people. Each year, another 7 million people develop diabetes. With this epidemic growth, diabetes threatens to overwhelm global healthcare services, and wipe out some indigenous populations. Something needs to be done.
–How? We work with diabetes nationally and internationally: Our aim is to engage with the diabetes community to talk about the future of diabetes, and how we in the future can ensure the most optimal diabetes education and treatment. To achieve this, we speak to diabetes doctors and nurses about diabetes treatments; we engage with political decision makers to open their eyes; we invite young people to join the debate, we coordinate and participate in diabetes awareness events, and we do many other things!
The UN Resolution on diabetes
We have been working with the global diabetes community to convince governments to take action and change diabetes. As a result of the IDF led Unite for Diabetes Campaign, on 20 December 2006 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Resolution on Diabetes. Diabetes is now recognised as a chronic, debilitating and costly disease which poses severe risks for families. The first ever UN observed World Diabetes Day will be 14 November 2007.
This landmark achievement means that it is more important than ever to continue to raise awareness both on the global and national scenes to emphasize that doing nothing is no longer an option.
Through the UN Resolution on diabetes, we can oblige governments to adopt diabetes to their healthcare agenda, and with the World Diabetes Day as an UN-observed day, we are definitely changing the future of diabetes…
On these pages, you can read about the work of the Novo Nordisk youth panel: who we are, the activities we are involved with, what we think about diabetes, how we would like other young people to partner with us – and very soon you can also engage in dialogue with us through the blog!
We hope you will enjoy the reading…
