CHICAGO and BETHESDA, Md.—In support of November as National Diabetes Awareness Month, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Eye Institute (NEI), through their National Eye Health Education Program (NEHEP), along with Prevent Blindness, are offering free resources and calling on public health agencies to raise awareness of diabetes and diabetic eye disease.

According to the NIH, 29 million people in the U.S. are currently diagnosed with diabetes, 86 million are diagnosed with pre-diabetes, and diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of vision loss and blindness in the country, affecting 7.7 million people age 40 and approximately 11 million projected to be affected by 2030. According to a recent Prevent Blindness study, the estimated number of diabetic retinopathy cases in 2014 is currently more than 8 million and projected to increase to close to 11 million by 2032, and one in five adults reported knowing someone who has either lost sight or is currently losing their eyesight to diabetes.



The NEI has created a website section devoted to diabetic eye disease which aims to educate people with diabetes and prevent vision loss and blindness, offering information such as where to find an eyecare professional and how to talk to a doctor about the disease. The NEHEP has also developed a webpage for National Diabetes Month offering a plethora of online resources. Aimed to encourage people with diabetes to have a comprehensive dilated eye exam at least once a year, this page of resources includes a social media toolkit, infographics and web buttons that ECPs can embed on their websites, post on their social media outlets and use to promote National Diabetes Month and link people to diabetic eye disease information.

Prevent Blindness has annually declared November as Diabetic Eye Disease (DED) Awareness month as a way to help educate the public on the effects that diabetes can have on vision and is providing free information on risk factors, warning signs and tips on how a healthy lifestyle can help protect vision loss, according to the organization. The organization has distributed a number of diabetic eye disease resources to key public health leaders, with programs including: The Diabetic Eye Disease Educator Course, an online course aimed at preparing health educators to address the vision care needs of their clients; the Healthy Eyes Educational Series Adult Vision Problems Module that can be downloaded for presentation purposes; and Living Well With Low Vision, designed for people living with low vision and their caregivers.

This year, Prevent Blindness has added an infographic to its awareness campaign titled the “7 DED-ly Sins,” pointing out mistakes that those with or at high risk of diabetes may be making in terms of their eyecare.