On World Children’s Day this year, IDF Europe is raising awareness of the fact that Europe has the highest number of children and adolescents living with type 1 diabetes (296,500 in total) compared to any other global region.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition that tends to develop in children and young adults, although it can also emerge later in life. It cannot be prevented, and there is no cure for it, although, with appropriate care, people living with Type 1 diabetes can live a long and healthy life.
Living with a chronic condition is not easy though, especially if you are diagnosed as a child. Due to stigma and misconceptions about diabetes, children living with the condition can often face discrimination and social exclusion, in school and in their daily lives. We must fight to end this by educating our children and the general public about diabetes and what it means to live with the condition.
As part of our World Children’s Day campaign this year, we are giving a voice to young people in Europe who live with diabetes to talk about their experience. We have conducted an interview with Fara, an eight-year-old girl from Belgium who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes three years ago. She has kindly agreed to interview her mother for us, to discuss what it is like to have a child living with diabetes.
Download the interview here.
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