IDF and Sanofi launch pilot project in largest populations of diabetes worldwide

A school-based education program designed to raise awareness about diabetes has been piloted in Brazil and India, the fourth and second-largest populations of adults with diabetes in the world.
The Kids and Diabetes in School (KiDS) project is funded by Sanofi Diabetes and administered by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF). Its aim is to educate children, parents and school staff about type 1 and type 2 diabetes and diabetes prevention.
According to the IDF’s Diabetes Atlas, 7th editio, there are 14.3 million adults with diabetes in Brazil, and 30,900 children with type 1 diabetes – the third-highest number in the world. India has 69.2 million adults with diabetes and 70,200 children with type 1 diabetes, listing second on these measures, while the United Kingdom is fifth for the highest number of children with diabetes at 19,800. No data was collected for children with type 2 diabetes.
The aim of the KiDS project is to educate children, parents and school staff about type 1 and type 2 diabetes and diabetes prevention. In Brazil and India, around 1400 teachers and 40,000 students have been trained, with qualitative interviews conducted following the program.
Denise Reis Franco, MD, education director of ADJ Diabetes Brasil, told Medscape Medical News: “The main purpose was to try to diminish the discrimination against the disease but also stimulate changes in habits, eating better, having more fruits and vegetables, and being more active.
“We’re not only [helping] the persons with diabetes in the school, but we’re also trying to prevent the growing epidemic disease that is type 2 diabetes.”
The KiDS pack, which is available in eight different languages, has been downloaded 7976 times worldwide and the IDF are now seeking to encourage governments to incorporate the program into school criteria.