It’s November 2021, or as people with Diabetes know, National Diabetes Awareness Month. For people who have been involved with the Diabetes Online Community, this is a time for sharing personal stories, advocating for important causes or participating in social media challenges to help raise awareness about life with Diabetes.
For Diabetics Doing Things, we decided to focus on the 9 out of 10 Americans who DON’T live with Diabetes, and created a series of graphics that we posted to our Instagram account.
The following are the topics we wanted to create awareness about for NDAM 2021.
Insulin Access and Affordability
You simply cannot discuss Diabetes without discussing the Insulin crisis, which affects 50% of people with Diabetes, and data from T1International says 1 in 4 Americans with Diabetes have rationed their insulin. For National Diabetes Awareness Month 2021, we wanted to ensure this was top of the list for people without Diabetes to know.
The Chronic Effects of Diabetes - Sleep Loss
Diabetes causes sleep loss, which can simultaneously lead to insulin resistance. A vicious cycle for people with Diabetes, but it is one of the invisible burdens of living with a chronic illness. If you’d like to calculate how much sleep you’ve lost to Diabetes, use this tool from JDRF.
The Cost of Diabetes
Outside of insulin costs, Diabetes places a significant strain on finances. The financial burden of Diabetes is significant. When the average cost of Diabetes per capita is compared with Median Household Income in the United States, the numbers are a shocking 14% of income would be needed to cover Diabetes costs.
Health Insurance and Macro Statistics
When I hear macro statistics about Insurance or Healthcare, I always think about the people with Diabetes that it affects. The COVID-19 pandemic has created conditions that are adversely affecting people with Diabetes, even if they are unaffected by the virus itself. The number of uninsured Americans increased in 2020. It's important to remember there are people with Diabetes within macro statistics. If 30M Americans do not have insurance, it's reasonable to think that at least 10% of those people have Diabetes, if 1 in 10 Americans live with the disease.
1 in 10 Americans live with Diabetes
The Many Types of Diabetes
It’s more than just Type-1 or Type-2 these days. We’re learning more and more about the different types of Diabetes and the most important thing we can do is de-stigmatize Diabetes and end the harmful language that is rooted in ignorance.
The Rising Cost of Insulin
The cost of insulin in the United States has risen 11% annually from 2001-2018 (source: American Action Forum)
Diabetes and COVID-19
"Although anyone can contract COVID-19, individuals with pre-existing medical conditions, such as diabetes, appear to be more vulnerable to becoming severely ill with the virus. Initial data from COVID-19 cases, recently reported by the American Diabetes Association, show that individuals with uncontrolled diabetes are more likely to have worse outcomes." T1DExchange
Diabetes and Socioeconomic Class
"The difference in average A1c between the lowest income group and the highest income group is 1.46%." T1DExchange We know that class affects nearly all aspects of healthcare, but to see HgA1C outcomes listed like this was particularly poignant.
Conclusion
So what do we do with all this information? Continue to spread awareness by sharing this blog with your friends and family who do not live with Diabetes. In order for people with Diabetes to change the status quo it is essential for us to garner the attention and favor of the greater population. It is difficult for people to care about things that do not directly affect them, so tell your friends why they should care about the issues that you and other people with Diabetes face.
Happy NDAM 2021,
Diabetics Doing Things Staff