1. Announcing the diabetes blue circle Wear and Share campaign
--------------------------------------------------
Have you recently snapped a picture of a Hollywood or Bollywood celebrity wearing the blue diabetes circle pin? How about a sporting megastar, a world leader or rock god? If you have, we need that picture now for our World Diabetes Day wall of fame. It's my guess, however, that you might not have found that photo opportunity just yet.
In fact, hold on a minute and ponder the following question: Where are all the A-list celebrities for diabetes?
Recent figures from the IDF Diabetes Atlas show that 285 million people now have diabetes worldwide. The disease is a leading global cause of vision loss, heart attack, stroke, kidney failure and amputation. At a grim four million lives lost a year, diabetes is also a leading cause of death. So where are the big-name celebs rallying behind our cause? Wherever they are, please ask them to step forward, we need their help. And if they do, please make sure you have your camera at the ready to capture the moment.
World Diabetes Day, however, is not all about the glitterati. It's about diabetes representative organizations and individual champions making a difference. So we're asking everyone to step forward and share a photo of themselves or others wearing the blue circle symbol of diabetes. You don't have to be famous to get on our wall of fame. Whoever you are and whatever your link to diabetes, we want a snapshot of you wearing the pin. Who knows? Maybe one day we can put your picture up on the wall right alongside your favourite TV personality.
If you don't have the pin, no problem – any kind of blue circle alternative will be welcome. After all, we wouldn't want to cramp your creative instincts.
To help us put diabetes in the picture, join the global wear and share challenge. It's simple, all you have to do is:
1. Ask a friend, a family member or indeed one of your many celebrity contacts to wear the diabetes symbol. Then capture the moment on film.
2. Post the image on the World Diabetes Day website here: http://bit.ly/25gk1y
3. Leave the rest to us. We'll put your picture up on our diabetes wall of fame and share it through the World Diabetes Day museum (http://www.worlddiabetesday.org/museum).
The blue diabetes pin is the must-have accessory for anyone involved in the diabetes cause. Pins are available in packs of 10 (enough for every one of your celebrity friends!) from http://bit.ly/yjPx7. Read more about the diabetes circle at http://www.diabetesbluecircle.org.
2. Monument lighting passes 500 mark
--------------------------------------------------
With 10 days remaining to World Diabetes Day, more than 500 landmark sites and monuments have confirmed that they will go blue on November 14. More than 40 countries have confirmed participation:
Argentina; Australia; Austria; Barbados; Belgium; Bolivia; Brazil; Canada; Cayman Islands; China; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Dominican Republic; France; Gibraltar; India; Italy; Japan; Kazakhstan; Kuwait; Luxembourg; Mayotte; Mexico; New Zealand; Norway; Paraguay; Peru; Poland; Saint Lucia; San Marino; Saudi Arabia; Slovakia; Slovenia; South Africa; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; Taiwan; United Arab Emirates; United Kingdom; United States; Venezuela.
The growing list of confirmed monuments includes Table Mountain, the London Eye, Tokyo Tower, the Empire State Building, the Burj al Arab, Christ the Redeemer, and the Hofburg.
3. Latest lightings: Japan pushes into global top 5
--------------------------------------------------
The Tokyo Tower and Nagasaki's Meganebashi Bridge are among the close to 90 monuments that will bathe in blue for World Diabetes Day on November 14.
From Osaka to Okayama, temples, pagodas, castles and towers will light up in blue in a show of solidarity with the global fight against diabetes. This tremendous effort has pushed the country ahead of Brazil (64 monuments confirmed) and second only to Argentina (99 confirmed thus far).
The top five countries at the time of writing are:
> Argentina (99)
> Japan (86)
> Brazil (64)
> Kazakhstan (34)
> United States (33)
Lightings round up:
> Argentina takes the lead with almost 100 monuments/buildings confirmed – the cities of Zapala and Rio Cuarto are going completely blue with multiple confirmed lightings throughout the city.
> Five new monuments have signed on in Australia, bringing their total to six.
> Thanks to the work of ANAD, SBD and ADJ, 64 monuments are now confirmed in Brazil.
> France: more confirmations received bringing their total number to 17 – new confirmations came from the regions of Strasbourg and Cahors.
> Italy: we have received the confirmation of the first four monuments.
> Japan: 86 confirmations have been received from the Japanese Association for Diabetes Education & care.
> Kazakhstan joined the campaign and sent us 34 confirmations.
> Luxembourg also joined the campaign with their first six confirmations.
> Gibraltar and Mayotte have just joined the campaign.
> Mexico has now 11 monuments confirmed.
> We welcome New Zealand on board with their first confirmation.
> More confirmations from Paraguay bring the total to ten confirmations.
> The first three monuments in Poland have signed on.
> San Marino is lighting for the second year.
> Four monuments are confirmed in Slovenia.
> Four monuments are confirmed in Granada, bringing the total confirmations to 10 in Spain.
> Five confirmations received from Sweden.
> The impressive Burj al Arab will light once more in UAE along with 3 other buildings.
> USA now counts 34 monuments confirmed, with our friends and colleagues from JDRF confirming the participation of the Empire State Building.
The first lighting pictures have come in from Canada. The country, famous throughout the diabetes world as the birthplace of insulin, began the campaign early this year to tie in with last month's World Diabetes Congress in Montreal. View the latest pictures through flickr (http://www.flickr.com/groups/wdd) or on the http://www.worlddiabetesday.org homepage.
Please keep sending in your lighting confirmations to Dominique (dominique.robert@idf.org). You can check the latest online at http://bit.ly/3eTr31.
Whatever you're planning for World Diabetes Day, from individual action to the biggest diabetes event to ever hit your town, don't forget to let us know what you're up to at http://bit.ly/2tVutO. Make sure that your activity is counted as one of the many planned throughout the global diabetes community.
4. New campaign banners available!
--------------------------------------------------
Join the countdown to World Diabetes Day by placing one or more of our banners on your website or blog. We have 18 new banners to choose from. All banners are available in English, French and Spanish.
On World Diabetes Day, as pictures from around the world come in to the campaign team, we'll switch the banners to show monuments from around the world lit in blue to mark World Diabetes Day 2009. Get everything you you need to insert a banner on your site from: http://bit.ly/mNDLX.
Highly popular last year, the virtual candle banner is available again. The banner allows people to scroll over a World Diabetes Day candle and bring diabetes to light with a single click. Every act of lighting the candle is counted and adds to the global total of individuals participating in the campaign. Over the past year more than 200,000 people have lit the virtual candle. Get your virtual candle banners from: http://bit.ly/AnLy4.
