According to the International Diabetes Federation, or IDF, as of 2011, over 300 million people worldwide have diabetes mellitus. Ninety percent have type 2 diabetes, or an inefficient use of insulin, the hormone that enables blood glucose to fuel calls. The remaining 10 percent mostly have type 1, in which the body cannot make insulin. Untreated or improperly treated diabetes causes often-preventable complications like blindness, gangrene, cardiovascular disease, kidney disease and premature deaths. In every region of the globe, people with diabetes are becoming more aware of and active on behalf of their rights.
UN Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities
People with diabetes are covered by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities, or CRPD. While the CRPD "does not establish new human rights," it clarifies "the obligations on States to promote, protect and ensure the rights of persons with disabilities," notes UN Enable. These include the rights to equality before the law, life, liberty, health, respect for physical and mental integrity, freedom from violence and abuse, freedom to live in the community, freedom of expression, home and family, education, employment and participation in political, public and cultural life.
IDF Charter
In April 2011, the IDF, by then representing 160 countries, published its first ever "International Charter of Rights and Responsibilities of People With Diabetes" since its 1950 founding. Expressly "building on" the CRPD and other human rights treaties, the charter asserts three primary rights: the rights to care, information and education about diabetes, and social justice, which encompasses the rights to education, equal employment and self-advocacy.
Health Care Access
The IDF emphasizes the right of all people with diabetes to proper education, prevention and treatment because access to these services makes a dramatic, well-documented difference to their quality of life and indeed their very survival. For example, although lifesaving daily insulin therapy first became available during the 1920s, many African children still die from its lack within a year of their type 1 diagnosis. Although 65 percent of all people with diabetes live in the developing world, it accounts for a mere 30 percent of total global insulin consumption. According to a report in the March 2011 "Bulletin of the World Health Organization," even in a relatively wealthy nation like the United States, uninsured people with diabetes have far worse health outcomes than those with health insurance.
Reproductive Rights
Health-care professionals and people with diabetes have grown increasingly aware of the condition's numerous reproductive health consequences, from male sexual dysfunction to high-risk pregnancy. Proper health care can often prevent or alleviate these difficulties. The IDF charter specifically mentions only one reproductive health right, under the right to care: "access to high-quality services and care during and after pregnancy and childbirth." Article 23 of the CRPD more fully addresses the reproductive rights of people with diabetes and other disabilities, such as freedom to marry, sex education that addresses their particular needs, and voluntary family planning and parenthood.
References
- Andrology Australia: Diabetes and Reproductive Health
- "Bulletin of the World Health Organization"; Management of Diabetes and Associated Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Seven Countries; Emmanuela Gakidou, et al.; March 2011
- "Diabetes Voice"; Reproductive Health in Women With Diabetes; Seyda Ozcan and Nevin Sahin; May 2009
- International Diabetes Federation: About Insulin
- International Diabetes Federation: International Charter of Rights and Responsibilities of People With Diabetes
- United Nations Enable: Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities
