Diabetes education is lacking in school curricula and staff training

Diabetes education is a crucial lever for preventing diabetes-related stigma within the school environment and ensuring that staff are equipped with the knowledge to create a safe and supportive school environment for students with diabetes. Furthermore, understanding diabetes and its risk factors underpins the promotion of healthy habits and reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes.

However, only 15% of respondents reported that their country had a government initiative or policy requiring inclusion of diabetes education in school curricula.

There are also considerable gaps when it comes to educating school staff about diabetes. Almost half of respondents (47%) reported their country had no initiative to educate school staff about diabetes.

Diabetes training for school and medical staff ensures that students with diabetes have access to the appropriate care and support needed daily and in medical emergencies.

Where diabetes education policies or initiatives do exist, there are challenges for implementation

Of the 16 countries and territories where respondents reported having an initiative for including diabetes education in school curricula, only respondents in 5 countries reported that the policy has been implemented in all schools.

Access to diabetes care in the school environment remains limited

Managing diabetes requires a large degree of self-care. However, children and adolescents need access to medical staff at school to help them effectively manage their diabetes during the school day and receive the right support in the event of a medical emergency.

Respondents in only 38% of countries and territories reported having an initiative or policy to ensure that medical staff are present at school to attend to the immediate health needs of students.

Of those countries where respondents reported that medical staff were present at school, 68% reported having medical staff equipped to provide diabetes care, such as checking glucose levels and treating hypoglycaemia.

More than half of schools promote healthy eating but not every age group benefits

Understanding healthy eating is a key component of a healthy lifestyle and can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and other conditions.

Respondents in over half (54%) of  countries and territories reported that there was compulsory education on healthy eating in schools. However, more should be done to expand to nutrition education, as only half of respondents in these countries reported compulsory nutrition education for all age groups included in the survey (3-17 years old).

The vast majority of countries require physical education classes in school

Encouraging and facilitating physical activity during the school day is an important way to help children build healthy habits for the future and reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life. Physical education policies are widely implemented around the world, with 90% of respondents reporting initiatives or policies in their country on physical education in schools for at least some age groups.

The results from this survey highlight:

• The absence in many countries of initiatives or policies that promote diabetes education in schools.
• That many children and adolescents with diabetes do not have access to trained professionals to help them effectively manage their diabetes at school.
• That while healthy eating and physical education policies do exist widely, these policies can go further to ensure children across all age groups receive continued education to help them live a healthy lifestyle and reduce their risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Below are examples of activities that can bring diabetes awareness and understanding into schools to support the well-being of students with diabetes and encourage healthy habits for type 2 diabetes prevention.

Volunteer with your local diabetes association

• Contact an IDF member association in your country and find out how you can support their diabetes education, prevention and care campaigns.

Use the KiDS resources to run an educational session

• Engage with the local authority responsible for education and request that they run a Kids and Diabetes in Schools educational session in local schools. Download resources to run a KiDS session.

Take action to improve nutrition at school

• Contact local schools in your area and encourage them to ban the sale of unhealthy foods on school premises.
• Mobilise the parent's associations of schools in your local community to campaign for healthy meals and snacks to be provided on school premises.

Find more ideas and support in the KiDS Advocacy Toolkit.

The survey was developed by Arlington Research with input from representatives from IDF member associations, Blue Circle Voices and Young Leaders in Diabetes. The survey was made available in Arabic, English, French, Russian and Spanish.

The survey collected data from a total of 105 countries and territories. 128 IDF members participated in the survey. In cases where more than one response per country was recorded, the answer from the association working at national level was considered.