Activity spotlight: Banting Legacy Foundation celebration

World Diabetes Day is celebrated every year on November 14 to mark the birthday of Sir Frederick Banting who, along with Charles Best, first conceived the idea which led to the discovery of insulin in 1921. The Sir Frederick Banting Legacy Foundation is committed to restoring and preserving the historic site of Sir Frederick's birth, in Alliston, Ontario, Canada.

This year the Foundation has planned a series of activities at the Banting Homestead Heritage Park to mark World Diabetes Day 2012. The highlight will be an official 'ribbon-cutting' ceremony on November 11 to mark the completion of the Historic Banting Farmhouse Restoration Project and the 91st anniversary of the discovery of insulin.

The first annual Banting Legacy lectureship will be held at McMaster University on November 1. This will be followed by a "Think Tank" of healthcare experts in diabetes, which will focus on the issues faced by young people with diabetes as they transition from the childcare system to the adult healthcare system.

The World Diabetes Day online activities calendar is updated daily with information about planned awareness events from all over the world. Share your confirmed activity with us by posting the information online or sending it to wdd@idf.org.

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Send us your World Diabetes Day video message

The World Diabetes Day 2012 campaign aims to link the urgent need for action to the protection of the health of our future generations. Focus is placed on highlighting the importance of education in reducing the impact of diabetes.  Send us a short video message explaining how you will be active this world Diabetes Day to educate, engage and empower members of your local community to recognise the importance of early awareness of the risks and dangers of diabetes and promote the lifestyle and environmental interventions that can help make a difference to the health of future generations.

View the messages sent in by Keegan Hall, President-Elect of the IDF Young Leaders in Diabetes, and Miguel Paludo, NASCAR race truck driver and IDF Blue Circle Champion.

Share your video messages with us by uploading them to YouTube and adding them to the World Diabetes Day channel or sending the link to wdd@idf.org. Show us how you're helping to protect our future!

Make sure to also continue viewing and sharing our 2012 campaign video "Diabetes: protect our future."

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Get creative with the blue circle!

One of the aims of World Diabetes Day is to strengthen recognition of the blue circle - [insert link] - as the global symbol of the united effort to combat the diabetes epidemic and improve the lives of people with diabetes. Many of you actively use the symbol and often make it the basis for the promotion of your local awareness activities and campaigns. As part of our global rallying call to "Go Blue for Diabetes" this November, we would like you to get creative with the blue circle and send us pictures of how you are using the symbol to raise diabetes awareness in fun and entertaining ways. Get inspired with some images recently posted on our Facebook pages.

Share your blue circle images with us by posting them on our Facebook page, adding them to our Flickr gallery or sending them to wdd@idf.org.

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WDD Champion spotlight: The Heal Foundation

World Diabetes Day Champions are organisations recognised for their efforts in improving the health and well-being of future generations, promoting diabetes care and prevention and defending the interests of people with diabetes and those at risk. This week we feature the Indian-based HEAL (Health Education & Awareness League) Foundation, a social advocacy group that strives to act as a platform for facilitating meaningful communication between social scientists, developmental agencies, health communicators, research scientists, doctors and policy makers, with the purpose of raising public awareness on health issues and effecting desirable changes.

HEAL commitment to the fight against diabetes is highlighted by the India 4 Diabetes Care (I4DC) campaign, the country’s largest effort to raise awareness and engage various stakeholders in the prevention and better management of diabetes. For its third year, the campaign will be the largest ever covering 15 cities with a wide variety of activities aimed at reaching out to and involving a large segment of the population affected by the ever-increasing diabetes epidemic. IDF will be joining with Heal and the Ministry of Health in launching the campaign.

See all our World Diabetes Day Champions.

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Campaign round-up

• Pin a Personality: Guatemalan TV news anchorwoman Maritza Ruiz, Irish MEP Phil Prendergast and Spanish mountaineer Josuu Feijoo are some of the latest personalities to have been pinned with the blue circle as part of our 'Pin a Personality' campaign. Keep on posting your pictures of pinned personalities on our Facebook or Twitter pages or sending them to wdd@idf.org. The blue circle means nothing to some people, let's change that!
   
• Doodle for Banting: A big thank you to the over 5,000 people that have signed our petition to get Google to create a doodle to mark the birthday of Frederick Banting on 14 November. Come on Google, give us that doodle
   
• Flash mob for diabetes: Join our 2012 Flash Mob for Diabetes Challenge and help raise diabetes awareness by dancing to the tune of ‘Let’s Beat It!’ Paris, São Paulo and Valletta are among the cities to have joined the challenge.
   
• Campaign posters: our 2012 posters are now available in Latvian and Romanian. See all the languages available for download. We encourage you to use them in your local awareness activities.
   
• WDD heroes: Professional race car driver Ryan Reed is another example of a person with diabetes who has not let the disease stop him from pursuing his dreams. Read his inspiring story and send us your own of someone who has helped make a difference in how you live with and manage your diabetes.
   
• Merchandise: Get your blue circle pins, bracelets, t-shirts and other campaign merchandise in time for November by ordering them now.

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Blue Monument Challenge update

Confirmations of monuments and buildings from all over the world that will be going blue for diabetes this November continue to come in. Here are the latest to have joined our 2012 Blue Monument Challenge:

• Old Capitol Building, Tallahassee FL, USA
• The Big Chicken, Marietta GA, USA
• Monumento de los Constituyentes, Montevideo, Uruguay
• Puerta de la Ciudadela, Montevideo, Uruguay
• Hotel de Ville, Verviers, Belgium
• Bab Mansour Laalej, Meknes, Morocco
• Golconda Forte, Hyderabad, India
• Sahniwada Fort, Pune, India
• 13 Gates of Ahmedabad, India
• Assembly Hall, Kolkata

Help provide a strong visual element to attract attention to the diabetes cause by lighting a monument or building in your area, or even just your house, in blue this November. Download our lighting guide to get some tips on how to go about it.

Please continue to share your confirmed lightings with us by posting them online or sending them to wdd@idf.org.

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