Background

Diabetes continues to be the leading cause of kidney failure, non-traumatic lower-extremity amputations, and blindness among adults and is a major cause of heart disease and stroke. Minority Ethnic communities are more unlikely to walk in for a health check unless they are seriously ill.

Aim

This project aimed to develop and implement a diabetes awareness and management programme to increase minority ethnic communities’ awareness of diabetes and key indicators of risk factors of complications from diabetes.

Target community

The project targeted ethnic minorities and other people interested in knowing about Diabetes.

Summary

They were activities for children and adults, the children had face painting, played on the jumping castle, had dance lessons and played football under the guidance of professional coaches. The adults had an opportunity to exercise by pedalling on a bicycle and making a smoothie at the same time, they were also taken through their paces by a fitness instructor and they also had an opportunity to shake a leg by taking part in a Zumba fitness style dance exercise led by a dance expert.

They were various expert keynote speakers on the day, subjects ranged from Diabetes and related complications, awareness of organisations that support people with diabetes and other health-related complications, organisations that promote positive health and wellbeing activities and a commitment from PACHEDU to working on building the pilot into a fully fledged project working with people from diverse minority ethnic groups. The main keynote speaker was Professor Martin Mclntyre who is a Consultant in Diabetes & Endocrinology.