JDRF urges Parliament to reverse cuts to type 1 diabetes research budget

JDRF UK, the charity for people with type 1 diabetes has launched a campaign to urge the government to reverse the decline in spending that it is dedicating to type 1 diabetes research.
The #CountMeIn campaign aims to convince the Minister responsible for Universities and Science to increase the amount of money that the UK invests into type 1 diabetes research.
Type 1 diabetes is a condition that causes the body to destroy its own ability to create insulin causing people with the condition to take insulin by injection or by an insulin pump. People with type 1 diabetes then need to spend the rest of their lives taking blood tests and insulin in an attempt to replicate how a working pancreas would.
The task of acting as one’s own pancreas is often tough and most people with type 1 diabetes find it difficult to reach the strict blood glucose targets necessary to reduce the risk of health complications developing. Type 1 diabetes, which is distinct from the even more common type 2 diabetes, can strike in childhood or in adulthood.
Today the charity is being joined by 60 children and adults from across the country to argue for more money to be spent on a condition which currently costs the UK an estimated £1.9 billion a year in treatment costs.
The JDRF also notes that rates of type 1 diabetes are rising year on year and if the trend continues, the cost of type 1 diabetes to the UK could increase to £4.2 billion a year by 2036.
The amount of money dedicated to research into type 1 diabetes has been decreasing in recent years despite the rate of diagnoses going up. The UK invests considerably less money in type 1 diabetes research per head of population than other countries such as the USA, Canada and Australia.
In addition to visiting Westminster, the JDRF will be following the direct talks with a petition which will be launched on the 5th May this year.