Special postcards and half an hour of walking: it is World Diabetes Day

Saturday 14 November 2020, 9:32 PM

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PROVINCE OF UTRECHT / AMERSFOORT – You may have seen it somewhere on social media today: people who walked through their neighborhood for half an hour and posted a photo of it on Twitter or Facebook. It was an action of the Bas van de Goor Foundation for World Diabetes Day.
World Diabetes Day was established in 1991 by the World Health Organization (WHO). He wants to draw attention to the disease. Not only does it have a lot of impact – if you have diabetes, you are working on it 24 hours a day – but also because more and more people have diabetes.
Former top volleyball player Bas van de Goor today called on people with his organization to get moving. Exercise is important for everyone, but it can also influence the disease for people with diabetes, says Van de Goor, who also has diabetes.

The action was taken from all over the country. The director of Diabetes Association Netherlands from Leusden also walked around.

The Diabetes Fund from Amersfoort has designed postcards in honor of World Diabetes Day. “Today diabetes is not an invisible disease for one day”, the Amersfoort organization writes on Facebook.

Corona

According to UMC Utrecht, the corona pandemic has a major impact on diabetes patients. The hospital saw the number of leg amputations explode during the lockdown.

This has to do with the nerve damage that diabetics can develop in their lower legs and feet. This makes them less likely to notice a wound. Normally they come to the hospital regularly to have their feet and legs checked. But due to corona, fewer diabetes patients come for a check-up in the hospital. Medical researcher Willem Rinkel explained earlier on Radio M Utrecht that this can cause considerable damage, which can also lead to an amputation.