[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 211 Referred in Senate (RFS)]

  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 211


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           November 14, 2007

Received and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
                                Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 


Whereas the World Health Organization and the International Diabetes Federation 
        established World Diabetes Day in 1991 with the aim of coordinating 
        diabetes advocacy worldwide;
Whereas World Diabetes Day is celebrated annually on November 14;
Whereas on December 20, 2006, the General Assembly of the United Nations passed 
        a landmark resolution recognizing diabetes as a chronic, debilitating, 
        and costly disease;
Whereas the resolution designates World Diabetes Day as a United Nations Day to 
        be observed every year starting in 2007 in order to raise global 
        awareness of diabetes;
Whereas the theme of the 2007 United Nations World Diabetes Day campaign focuses 
        on raising awareness of diabetes in children and adolescents, who face 
        unique challenges when diagnosed with diabetes;
Whereas the United Nations campaign aims, among other objectives, to firmly 
        establish the message that no child should die of diabetes;
Whereas the global diabetes epidemic has devastating effects on families, 
        societies, and national economies;
Whereas diabetes is the fourth leading cause of death by disease in the world, 
        and is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States;
Whereas diabetes is a leading cause of blindness, kidney failure, amputation, 
        heart attack, and stroke;
Whereas in almost every country the incidence of diabetes is increasing, growing 
        from an estimated 30,000,000 people worldwide in 1985 to an estimated 
        245,000,000 people in 2007, and to 380,000,000 by 2025, as reported by 
        the International Diabetes Federation;
Whereas diabetes is one of the most common chronic childhood diseases;
Whereas diabetes can strike children at any age, and when diagnosed in young 
        people the risk of developing life-threatening complications at an early 
        age increases and life expectancy is shortened by, on average, 10 to 20 
        years;
Whereas new figures from the International Diabetes Federation's Diabetes Atlas 
        suggest that more than 70,000 children develop type 1 diabetes each year 
        and 440,000 children worldwide under the age of 14 now live with type 1 
        diabetes;
Whereas recent data indicate that one out of every three children born in the 
        United States will develop diabetes during their lifetime, including one 
        out of every two children from ethnic minority groups;
Whereas in low- and middle-income countries, many children with diabetes die 
        because they are diagnosed late or misdiagnosed or because insulin is 
        unaffordable, unavailable, or in short supply;
Whereas the incidence of type 2 diabetes, which was previously rare in children, 
        is rising at alarming rates, with more than 200 children a day 
        developing this form of diabetes;
Whereas obesity is a major contributor to type 2 diabetes;
Whereas according to the International Obesity Task Force of the International 
        Association for the Study of Obesity, 155,000,000 school-age children 
        worldwide are overweight, representing at least 1 out of every 10 
        school-age children;
Whereas at least 30,000,000 of those overweight children are classified as 
        obese, accounting for at least 2 percent of the world's children between 
        the ages of 5 and 17 years of age;
Whereas research has shown conclusively that type 2 diabetes can be prevented or 
        significantly delayed through healthy weight maintenance and regular 
        physical activity;
Whereas adopting a lifestyle high in physical activity and adopting a low-sugar, 
        low-fat diet can successfully prevent the onset of obesity and diabetes 
        among school-age children;
Whereas diabetes is costly, with the world estimated to spend at least 
        $232,000,000,000 in 2007 and over $302,500,000,000 by 2025 to treat and 
        prevent diabetes and its complications;
Whereas world treatment costs for diabetes are growing more quickly than the 
        world population;
Whereas diabetes threatens to subvert global economic advancement by both 
        straining government budgets worldwide (with the cost of diabetes-
        related disability payments, pensions, social and medical service costs, 
        and lost revenue) and burdening private health insurers and employers 
        with spiraling health care costs;
Whereas by 2025 the largest increases in diabetes prevalence will take place in 
        developing countries, whose economies are less able to support increased 
        expenditures to provide for those with the disease and engage in 
        effective prevention efforts; and
Whereas the economic impact of diabetes threatens to undermine the achievement 
        of the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals for developing 
        countries: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That Congress supports the goals and ideals of World Diabetes Day.

            Passed the House of Representatives November 13, 2007.

            Attest:

                                            LORRAINE C. MILLER,

                                                                 Clerk.