Each year 7 April is observed as the World Health Day – the anniversary of establishing of the World Health Organisation (WHO) World Health Day is a global campaign that each year focuses on one public health issue and provides opportunities to start joint actions to improve health and wellbeing of people. For 2015 the topic of the World Health Day is diabetes and the slogan is “BEAT DIABETES”

Diabetes is one of the most common chronic non-communicable diseases and is a huge public health problem.

According to the estimates of the Serbian Institute for Public health “Dr Milan Jovanović Batut” there are approximately 710,000 cases of diabetes in Serbia which makes for 12.4% of the adult population. The share of persons with type 2 diabetes is 95% versus those with type 1. It is also estimated that 36% of persons with type 2 has not been diagnosed and is not aware of the disease. Prevalence of diabetes rises with age and it is estimated that almost half of all the diabetics in Serbia are over the age of 65. For older persons, type 2 diabetes is usually discovered relatively late when it has already produced numerous cardiovascular problems.

Healthy life styles can in 70% of all cases prevent development of type 2 diabetes and healthy eating significantly reduced the risk. Type 2 may be prevented or its symptoms can be alleviated through healthy living that includes regular exercise and healthy food. Developing healthy eating habits in children is a key factor in stopping the diabetes epidemic and one step towards achieving sustainable development.

Every year the Red Cross of Serbia participates in observing the World Health Day through different activities throughout the territory f the Republic of Serbia. One of our goals is to raise awareness on the importance of prevention as well as healthy life styles. The Red Cross will organise different lectures and workshops focusing on diabetes as well as street actions and blood sugar checkups accompanied with healthy life styles advice.

The Red Cross of Serbia has again this year joined the global campaign called ADA – Age Demands Action. Within the campaign older people from 50 countries across four continents have met their governments’ representatives and decision makers in order to get their attention and discuss the global campaign to improve quality of life in the older age. The idea for each country is to have a delegation of older people meet a person with decision making power and present problems and needs of older people to them. This year the delegation of older Red Cross of Serbia volunteers and representatives was received by dr Vesna Knjeginjić, Assistant Minister of Health, Sector for Public Health and Programmatic Health Protection. The topic of discussion was the initiative for older people with diagnosed diabetes to get a higher number of diabetes test strips that will be more in line wirth their real needs, as well as the possibility of introducing a screening procedure for depression and Alzheimer’s disease in primary health protection that would enable older people with symptoms of dementia and their families to better plan their future, lower their costs and increase the efficiency of treatment.

Another initiative discussed was for the Ministry of Health to consider enabling older people with diagnosed incontinency to get adult diapers on prescription. A huge number of older incontinent people do not buy these diapers due to their economic situation which increases their vulnerability to infections but also tends to keep them at home and lčeads them into social isolation and increased risk of depression.