DURKAN PLEDGES TO ‘GET SERIOUS’ ABOUT DIABETES

Foyle MP Mark Durkan has pledged to ‘Get Serious’ about diabetes by joining leading health charity Diabetes UK in its new campaign to raise awareness of the condition.

The Get Serious campaign aims to get as many people as possible to sign up and show their commitment to Get Serious about diabetes – www.diabetes.org.uk/GetSerious

The charity is also asking supporters to pledge to do something for diabetes. This could be making healthy lifestyle changes, organising a fundraising event, campaigning or volunteering - it all helps raise the seriousness of diabetes.

If left untreated or not managed effectively, diabetes can lead to complications such as heart disease, stroke, blindness, kidney failure and amputation. Type 2 diabetes can go undetected for ten years or more which means that around half of people already have complications by the time they are diagnosed.

Mark Durkan, who is a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Diabetes, said:

“There are 62,000 people diagnosed with diabetes in Northern Ireland and a further 12,500 who have Type 2 diabetes but don’t know it.

“I’ve signed up to the Get Serious campaign to raise awareness of the condition and to highlight the need for people to take their health seriously.

“In 'getting serious' about diabetes I will be attending a meeting of the North West Voluntary Group in the new year as well as taking important steps to lead a healthier lifestyle by changing my diet and exercising more often.”

Diabetes UK Campaigns Manager Donna Castle said: “Because three people die from diabetes-related complications every hour; because one person is diagnosed with diabetes every three minutes; we are asking people to join our campaign and get serious about diabetes.

“By signing up, you join a community that is fighting one of the UK’s biggest health challenges. Each person that signs up to Get Serious brings us one step closer to making diabetes a priority for everyone.”

The charity is launching the Get Serious campaign via a dedicated Get Serious section of the Diabetes UK website as well as across all of its online communities and via its members’ magazine, Balance.

People will be able to monitor the campaign’s progress, make pledges and upload photos and videos via the Diabetes UK pages on YouTube and Flickr. People can also ‘follow’ the campaign via Twitter and via a ‘Twitter feed’ on the Get Serious home page - www.diabetes.org.uk/GetSerious.

The charity is also asking supporters who use facebook to donate their status to the Get Serious campaign. The social media site will then update the supporter’s status three times over the following weeks with messages underlining the seriousness of diabetes to all their friends.

Sign up to the campaign by texting SERIOUS to 84383 or visit www.diabetes.org.uk/GetSerious

ENDS

04-12-09