Certified Diabetes Educator and nutritionist, living with type 1 diabetes

In Mexico, children living with diabetes face discrimination and lack of support in schools. Few teachers are aware of their needs, which require the attention of school staff during school hours.

Before the start of the school year or as soon as a child is diagnosed, teachers and school administrators should be open to receiving the information usually provided by parents and medical staff about each child living with diabetes in their school. They should also be proactive in requesting all the information they need to support and ensure the active engagement and participation of children with diabetes in classroom activities. This includes learning how to perform a blood glucose test with a glucometer and/or allowing the child with diabetes to check their blood glucose whenever they need to.

This is important in order to enable the child with diabetes to manage their condition in school without fear of being judged, and to give them the confidence to ask for help when they need it. For example, to inject insulin when their blood glucose is high, eat or drink a sugary food when their blood glucose is low, or go to the bathroom during class. These are denied to children with diabetes in many schools.

Ignorance of diabetes results in some schools refusing to admit children with diabetes or expelling them when they are diagnosed. Diabetes education, as provided by the KiDS programme, can help parents, diabetes associations, health professionals, teachers and school staff to tackle and prevent diabetes-related stigma and discrimination. KiDS is a great tool to support existing efforts by the Mexican Diabetes Association and other diabetes advocacy organizations in the country to bring diabetes education into schools.