Diabetes Awareness Week 2023 – Event Information

This year Diabetes Week is taking place from Monday 12 June to Sunday 18 June.

Diabetes can feel like a never-ending stream of numbers. Morning blood sugar, pre-meal blood sugar, counting carbs, HbA1c, blood pressure, diabetes risk scores! And some days, they just don’t add up.

Uncontrolled Diabetes causes blood sugar levels to rise, and high blood sugar levels cause damage to blood vessels. Over time small blood vessel damage can lead to sexual dysfunction, kidney disease, blindness and even amputation. Damage to larger blood vessels can also cause heart attacks and strokes.

Here on St Helena, it is estimated 1 in 4 people are taking medication for diabetes and around 400 people are living with prediabetes.

However, taking simple steps now can lower your chances of developing prediabetes or diabetes. For instance, did you know you can reduce your risk by maintaining a healthy weight, being physically active and not smoking?

To raise awareness of how you can reduce your risk of developing diabetes, improve your diabetes control or support a loved one or friend living with diabetes, the Dietitian and Health Promotion team will be bringing a ‘Diabetes pop-up café’ to the medical clinics across the Island next week. These will be held between 10 am and 12noon on the following days:

Come and visit the team for a cup of tea or coffee, taste test different artificial sweeteners, have a diabetes risk score test, blood pressure check and talk to the team from Smoke-free St Helena.

Dietitian Sarah Mattinson will also talk about healthy eating for diabetes as well as how to prevent it in the first place.

For further information about these events, or about diabetes more generally, please contact Sarah Mattinson by telephone on 22500 or via email through sarah.mattinson@sainthelena.gov.sh.

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