World Health Day 2016: Beat diabetes
World Health Day 2016 focuses on efforts to prevent and treat diabetes. There are about 60 million people with diabetes in the European Region. Although a large proportion of cases are preventable, prevalence is increasing, mostly due to increases in overweight and obesity, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and socioeconomic disadvantage.
What is diabetes?Top story
World Health Day 2016: Living with diabetes and educating others
"Take care of your health by exercising and watching your diet carefully," says Idriz Ethemi, who has lived with type 2 diabetes for over 10 years. The focus of World Health Day 2016 is "Beat diabetes". An estimated 64 million people in the WHO European Region live with the disease.
Download campaign material
- Presentation (PPT, 5 MB)
In English, Russian.
- Poster (PDF, 8 MB)
In English, French, German, Russian.
- Social media toolkit (MS Word, 318 KB)
In English.
- Factsheet (PDF, 2 MB)
In English, French, German, Russian.
- Country stories (MS Word, 244 KB)
In English, Russian.
- Download full package (PDF, PPT, MS Word, 14 MB)
Key message
Dr Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO Regional Director for Europe
The countries of this Region have a huge burden of diabetes, and their health systems often struggle to control the disease and manage its complications. The surge in diabetes will continue unless there is a concerted, whole-of-society effort to stop it.
World Health Day poster
Download poster for World Health Day 2016 - in English, French, German, Russian (PDF, 8 MB)
Join the conversation
Country stories
- Denmark: A multi-sector approach to boosting physical activity
- Kyrgyzstan: Implementing the PEN protocol to enhance diabetes diagnosis
- Republic of Moldova: Improving access to insulin and oral medicines for diabetes
- Portugal: Coordinated efforts on prevention, diagnosis and care
- Tajikistan: "Back to school" for people living with diabetes
