In this book, I am delighted to present a collection of images and stories from Ascensia's global campaigns to support World Diabetes Day. World Diabetes Day was created by the International Diabetes Federation in response to growing concerns about the escalating health threat posed by diabetes across the world. They wanted to create an awareness day that could help to educate the general public and shine a global spotlight on diabetes. Each year the IDF chooses a campaign theme to highlight a particular aspect of diabetes care and asks the diabetes community to lend its support. And the diabetes community does not disappoint, with everyone getting involved, from people with diabetes to advocacy organizations to industry partners. At Ascensia, we have always been eager to play a central role in supporting this day, as we see the importance and benefits for people with diabetes. In fact, World Diabetes Day has been an annual highlight for our organization and a campaign that our employees love to participate in, as it gives us the opportunity to show our support for the diabetes community. The desire to help people with diabetes is a core part of our company culture. This passion for helping people with diabetes sets Ascensia apart. It runs throughout every team in every country, and is part of the fabric of our organization. Together with its employees, partners and the community, Ascensia has led annual awareness campaigns that have had a widespread impact. These campaigns have, to date, engaged 20 million people and helped to drive the global conversation about diabetes. What is unique to our campaigns is the role of art. In each campaign, we have used art to share inspiring stories in a creative and engaging way. We wanted these stories to move people to take positive action in the diagnosis, prevention and management of diabetes; for themselves, their loved ones, friends or family. We are deeply proud of our contribution to World Diabetes Day and would like to say thank you to everyone that has made these campaigns possible including all our employees, business partners, healthcare professionals and most importantly, people with diabetes. We hope that these campaigns have helped more people to understand diabetes and as a result have made life better for them and those around them. If we can say this, then all of the effort has been truly worth it.

Eyes On Diabetes

The theme of World Diabetes Day 2016 was Eyes On Diabetes, promoting the importance of screening to ensure early diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes and enable treatment to reduce the risk of serious diabetes-related complications. In our first campaign as Ascensia, we wanted to highlight the importance of mobile technology and connectivity in helping people living with diabetes to better understand and manage their condition. The use of mobile devices with diabetes management apps can help to deliver on the IDF’s aims by supporting screening, testing and long-term management of diabetes. To demonstrate the essential role of mobile technology, we took photos of our employees and members of the public in various locations worldwide using illuminated mobile phones to spell out the word “DIABETES”.

Women and Diabetes

This campaign introduced inspiring women from across the world who have helped to make progress in diabetes care. For World Diabetes Day 2017, the official theme was, Women and Diabetes. One in ten women globally has diabetes. That is around 199 million women who are living today with diabetes and this number is projected to rise to 314 million by 2040. We all know more than ten women, and it is likely that one of them has diabetes. Whilst progress is being made, diabetes continues to be a critical global health issue for women. To draw attention to this issue and raise awareness, we have commissioned portraits of women who are helping to progress the management of diabetes. And to highlight the importance of digital solutions in managing diabetes, the portraits were created on mobile devices. The following pages display the portraits of these inspirational women, and explain their roles in the diabetes community.

Chemist and inventor of the indicator to detect glucose in 1956. USA

Type 1 diabetes, advocate, blogger.

Type 1 diabetes, social media blogger, mother.

Type 1 diabetes, charity worker, advocate, writer, consultant.

Nurse, diabetes educator, specialist in gestational diabetes.

USA

Family and Diabetes

the start of a two year campaign by the IDF to focus on families. At Ascensia, we know that diabetes has an impact on families. But this is only one said of the story. Families also have a critical role to play in discovering, preventing and managing diabetes. They give people with diabetes the love and support they need, which is vitally important. To highlight this, we asked people across the world to share their photos and stories of loving and supporting family members with diabetes. Our digital campaign illustrates these inspiring stories by adding artistic line drawings on top of their original photographs to bring to life each family's goals, aspirations and hobbies. Find out more about each of these inspiring stories below.

Protect Your Family

PROTE CT YO UR LY MI FA

WORLD DIABETES DAY 2019

For World Diabetes Day 2019 , the Diabetes Family, continuing the focus on family from 2018. So how do families protect people living with diabetes? Firstly, families are key to diagnosis ,as they are often the ones recognizing the signs and symptoms of diabetes in their loved ones. Prevention of type 2 diabetes involves the family too, as many cases may be prevented by adopting a healthy lifestyle. Reducing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes begins at home with healthy eating and exercise. Prevention can only be successful if families work together to adopt the right behaviors.

And family support has an important role to play in the management of diabetes and protecting a person’s long term health. Managing diabetes requires daily treatment, regular monitoring, a healthy lifestyle and ongoing education, all of which can be made easier with the help of families. For our campaign, we asked people across the world to share their experiences and tell us the stories of family support through video interviews.

Nelly Flor, from Mexico City, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes ten years ago when she was twenty five years old. After her diagnosis, she decided to become a humanistic therapist. Nelly's parents are a great support to her in times of crisis and when her glucose levels fluctuate. She wants people to understand that living with conditions such as diabetes is normal and does not hold her back, especially due to the support of her family. Nobody is alone: there is always a communitythere to support you.

German Romera, a twenty-nine year old living in Murcia, Spain, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of nineteen. He struggled to accept his diagnosis initially, butwith the support of his family and doctors, German has learnt to control and manage it with diet, exercise and rest. Diabetes does not limit or restrict him and he is able to lead a full and happy life.

April Lawrence, a mother from Atlanta in the USA, first experienced symptoms of diabetes 14 years ago, and was subsequently diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Her family know how to help her manage her diabetes and they pay attention to how she is feeling. She places a lot of value on the importance of family listening to people with diabetes and being their essential support system. Her family, and especially her daughter, motivate her to live a healthier life, so that she can be around for a long time.

Bas van de Goor, a forty-eight-year old retired volleyball player and Olympic Gold medalist from Amsterdam, Netherlands, is a person with Type 1 diabetes. He set up a foundation to improve the quality of life for people with diabetes and invites entire families to participate in sport and learn about what it means to have diabetes. He emphasizes the importance of sport and how exercise makes diabetes management easier, connects families and boosts energy for people with diabetes.

WORLD DIABETES DAY 2020 Nurses make the di erence for diabetes

Therefore, we wanted to acknowledge the meaningful and significant role many nurses around the world play in the prevention, diagnosis and management of diabetes in our 2020 campaign. At this time, the latest estimates showed that around 463 million adults were living with diabetes globally in 2020. However, this is potentially just the tip of the iceberg, with many others at risk of developing the condition or remaining undiagnosed. Nurses in helping people understand and manage their lifestyle choices to potentially prevent the onset of Type 2 Diabetes in the future and they have an essential role in identifying symptoms to support early diagnosis and prompt treatment. To highlight this, we asked people with diabetes from all over the world to share stories of how their nurse has helped them. They wrote letters to their nurse to express their appreciation and gratitude, which we have captured through video. On the following pages you can meet them, meet their nurses and read extracts from their letters.

THE DIFFERENCE THAT NURSES MAKE

THE DIFFERENCE THAT NURSES MAKE

46

MEET THE NURSES

JENNA CANTAMESSA Australia

ANTHI TSOUHALOU Greece

49

CHARLOTTE POTS, MELANIE AND TRUUS Belgium

KAMMIE YU Hong Kong

ANNIE-JOELLE LEMMAY Canada

PARAS DEVYANI India

OWEN TZURKOV Canada

VIKKY RAYNER Ireland

SHU XIUFEN China

ANDREW TAKCHI Lebanon

CLEA DIOYAN Turkey

DORIS KEZIC Croatia

RENATA CUELLAR VELEZ Mexico

BOB SWINDELL UK

MICHAL Czech Republic

PAWEL AND TOMEK UTRATA Poland

JASON BERG USA

ANDREA LIMBOURG France

ANGELA LEE Singapore

PHYLLISA DEROZE USA

DIANA NANCY DE LEON USA

PAULINE France

KATHRIN SCHANZ Germany

JANET DUMONT South Africa

ANA BELEN TORRIJOS Spain

50

We would like to thank everyone involved in our World Diabetes Day Campaigns, including our dedicated employees, healthcare professionals, people with diabetes, caregivers, patient advocates, charities, partners and other members of the diabetes community, as well as the artists, photographers, videographers, content producers and translators whose work is included in this book.