Second UK city named in international diabetes campaign

By Editor
20th June 2019
Type 2 diabetes, Type 2 prevention

Greater Manchester has become the second city in the UK to join a global initiative to “fight” type 2 diabetes in urban locations.

It was announced as the 22nd city to join Novo Nordisk’s Cities Changing Diabetes, a global partnership programme designed to address the “urban diabetes challenge”. A special launch event was held on Monday, June 17.

Diabetes prevalence in Greater Manchester has doubled in the last 20 years. Currently 7.2% of the population live with diabetes, which is higher than the England average, bringing the total figure to 160,000, with 150,000 having type 2 diabetes. Over a quarter of people in Greater Manchester will develop type 2 diabetes in their lifetime, putting them at increased risk of having a heart attack, stroke or amputation.

Last year, Leicester officially become the first UK city to join the Cities Changing Diabetes programme, with the Leicester Changing Diabetes campaign led by Professor Melanie Davies CBE and Professor Kamlesh Khunti having rolled out a series of healthy lifestyle initiatives across the city.

Pinder Sahota, General Manager of Novo Nordisk UK, said: “Novo Nordisk recognises that more needs to be done to address the lack of understanding surrounding diabetes in the UK. With the rise of type 2 diabetes in our cities, we are currently heading towards over 5 million people living with the condition in the UK by 2025. Cities Changing Diabetes aims to change these numbers and bend the curve of urban diabetes. By improving education and collaborating with forward thinking partners like Greater Manchester, we can arm everyone to fight this growing epidemic.”

In conjunction, Novo Nordisk has also launched Cycle for Cities Changing Diabetes 2019, which sees 120 cyclists including ambassadors from Team Novo Nordisk travel through seven UK cities in seven days to raise awareness of diabetes.

The cyclists started in Leicester on June 17 and then made their way to Manchester before continuing on to Liverpool, Birmingham, Bristol and Oxford, finishing the epic 900km journey at the Olympic VeloPark in Stratford, London. Along the route, Novo Nordisk will be engaging with over 1,000 school children and teachers through morning school assemblies, MPs, Mayors and city councils with lunchtime Cities Changing Diabetes Roundtables, and 500 healthcare professionals and patients through paediatric hospital visits as part of Talking About Diabetes (TAD) on Tour evening events.

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