On December 20th 2006 The General Assembly of the United Nations pass what can be describe as a landmark resolution when they recognized diabetes as a chronic debilitating and costly disease.
Although World Diabetes Day was previously celebrated on November 14 each year the resolution made it an officially designated United Nations Day beginning 2007 and every year following.
As any sufferer knows, there are two types of Diabetes, type I and type II. The latter is sometimes called adult onset diabetes, and over 90% of diabetics suffer this type.
It therefore takes no great leap of imagination to realize that the vast majority of diabetics are adults. But children can also suffer from diabetes, and for such kids, there are problems to face that are very different to those of their diabetic seniors.
It is alarming to note that there has been an observed significant increase in the reports of type 2 diabetes in children. This is a disease that can cause death and it is only right that the authority take proper action. Before, it was generally believed that only diabetes type 1 is present in children and adolescents and this was even called juvenile diabetes. However, recent research shows that about 8-45% of children who have diabetes are in fact having type 2, and not type 1. Type one diabetes is more of an immune deficiency in which the insulin-producing beta cells are destroyed. In type 2, the insulin cannot be taken into the cells because of cholesterol.
It is important for one person to know and understand the symptoms of diabetes in children for both types. With this knowledge, one will be able to diagnose up front if the child is a candidate for this disease.