Information on diabetes now available in twenty languages

The charity Diabetes UK has produced a range of information and guidance on diabetes in twenty different languages. The charity runs its own language centre, where it offers essential translated material for a variety of national and ethnic backgrounds .
Apart from raising awareness of the disease, a key reason for this venture is that people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities are at a greater risk of getting type 2 diabetes at an earlier age. Diabetes UK have prioritised their information for many languages in Eastern Europen, as well as in Chinese, Arabic, Somali and South Asian languages.
Jenne Dixit, Equality and Diversity Manager at Diabetes UK, said “With the growth of newer communities in the UK and a seemingly high prevalence of diabetes and inequalities in accessing care among these groups, Diabetes UK now provides diabetes information in a variety of other languages that we long since had gaps in.”
He added, “The language centre now produces diabetes information in twenty languages. We have focused on Eastern European communities and have also consulted with the different UK regions and nations to determine population groups in certain areas.” Ethnicity is one of the main risk factors in the development of type 2 diabetes, black and South Asian people can develop the condition from the early age of 25, while it usually occurs in white people after the age of 40.