Young Voices
Thirteen young people from around the world tell their individual stories about life with diabetes in the book Young Voices. They come from different countries on four continents and represent differerent cultures and social backgrounds. Three of them have type 2 diabetes, the rest have type 1 diabetes. It provides a very personal insight into what it means to live with diabetes for children and young people, as well as their families.
A global perspective
Good health is a driver of economic growth. That is why the pharmaceutical industry has a particular responsibility to help provide health for all, which is a universal human right. In doing so, it can also contribute to sustainable development in a global perspective.
On the mission to defeat diabetes Novo Nordisk is working in partnerships towards common goals of prevention, detection and treatment.
Life with diabetes
Each story describes how difficult it is to live with a chronic condition that requires on-going selv-management, particularly when you are at an age where other interests take precedence. However, the stories also show how each finds the strength to fight the diabetes.
A powerful pen
The author of Young Voices, Hala Khalaf, was the winner of this year’s Novo Nordisk Media Prize for excellence in writing on diabetes in the lay press. The award includes a cash prize of 10,000 Euros.
The prizewinner was selected from a pool of more than 250 entries from 17 different countries; Hala Khalaf was the youngest of all the journalists entering the competition.
Her article, “The truth about diabetes,” describes in an emotionally engaging way what it is like to have the disease, weaving the stories of several people with diabetes into an article that is also filled with factual information. The article was published in March in the Jordanian youth magazine Jo.
The winning article was chosen by an independent, international jury of journalists and medical professionals. The prize was established by Novo Nordisk in 2003 because, as a world leader in diabetes care, the company is committed to raising awareness of diabetes, and communication is a key to reaching this goal.
