III 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 211 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 14, 2007 

Received and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 

Pensions 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 

Whereas the World Health Organization and the International Diabetes Federation established World Diabetes 

Day in 1991 with the aim of coordinating diabetes advocacy worldwide; 

Whereas World Diabetes Day is celebrated annually on November 14; 


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HCON 211 RFS 

Whereas on December 20, 2006, the General Assembly of the 

United Nations passed a landmark resolution recognizing 

diabetes as a chronic, debilitating, and costly disease; 

Whereas the resolution designates World Diabetes Day as a 

United Nations Day to be observed every year starting in 

2007 in order to raise global awareness of diabetes; 

Whereas the theme of the 2007 United Nations World Diabetes Day campaign focuses on raising awareness of diabetes in children and adolescents, who face unique challenges when diagnosed with diabetes; 

Whereas the United Nations campaign aims, among other objectives, to firmly establish the message that no child 

should die of diabetes; 

Whereas the global diabetes epidemic has devastating effects 

on families, societies, and national economies; 

Whereas diabetes is the fourth leading cause of death by disease in the world, and is the sixth leading cause of death 

in the United States; 

Whereas diabetes is a leading cause of blindness, kidney failure, amputation, heart attack, and stroke; 

Whereas in almost every country the incidence of diabetes is 

increasing, growing from an estimated 30,000,000 people 

worldwide in 1985 to an estimated 245,000,000 people in 

2007, and to 380,000,000 by 2025, as reported by the 

International Diabetes Federation; 

Whereas diabetes is one of the most common chronic childhood diseases; 

Whereas diabetes can strike children at any age, and when 

diagnosed in young people the risk of developing lifethreatening complications at an early age increases and 


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life expectancy is shortened by, on average, 10 to 20 

years; 

Whereas new figures from the International Diabetes Federation’s Diabetes Atlas suggest that more than 70,000 children develop type 1 diabetes each year and 440,000 children worldwide under the age of 14 now live with type 

1 diabetes; 

Whereas recent data indicate that one out of every three children born in the United States will develop diabetes during their lifetime, including one out of every two children 

from ethnic minority groups; 

Whereas in low- and middle-income countries, many children 

with diabetes die because they are diagnosed late or 

misdiagnosed or because insulin is unaffordable, unavailable, or in short supply; 

Whereas the incidence of type 2 diabetes, which was previously rare in children, is rising at alarming rates, with 

more than 200 children a day developing this form of diabetes; 

Whereas obesity is a major contributor to type 2 diabetes; 

Whereas according to the International Obesity Task Force 

of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, 

155,000,000 school-age children worldwide are overweight, representing at least 1 out of every 10 school-age 

children; 

Whereas at least 30,000,000 of those overweight children are 

classified as obese, accounting for at least 2 percent of 

the world’s children between the ages of 5 and 17 years 

of age; 


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Whereas research has shown conclusively that type 2 diabetes 

can be prevented or significantly delayed through healthy 

weight maintenance and regular physical activity; 

Whereas adopting a lifestyle high in physical activity and 

adopting a low-sugar, low-fat diet can successfully prevent the onset of obesity and diabetes among school-age 

children; 

Whereas diabetes is costly, with the world estimated to spend 

at least $232,000,000,000 in 2007 and over 

$302,500,000,000 by 2025 to treat and prevent diabetes 

and its complications; 

Whereas world treatment costs for diabetes are growing more 

quickly than the world population; 

Whereas diabetes threatens to subvert global economic advancement by both straining government budgets worldwide (with the cost of diabetes-related disability payments, pensions, social and medical service costs, and lost 

revenue) and burdening private health insurers and employers with spiraling health care costs; 

Whereas by 2025 the largest increases in diabetes prevalence 

will take place in developing countries, whose economies 

are less able to support increased expenditures to provide 

for those with the disease and engage in effective prevention efforts; and 

Whereas the economic impact of diabetes threatens to undermine the achievement of the United Nation’s Millennium 

Development Goals for developing countries: Now, therefore, be it 


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1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 

2 concurring), That Congress supports the goals and ideals 

3 of World Diabetes Day. 

Passed the House of Representatives November 13, 

2007. 

Attest: LORRAINE C. MILLER, 

Clerk. 


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