For students

Diabetes Awareness Week 2008 - Coming Soon

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07 July 2008

Low GI diet reduces cancer risk

A new Italian study says a low Glycemic Index diet may reduce the risk of developing cancer.

02 July 2008

Medicare item looks to prevention

The Federal Government has introduced a new Medicare item aimed at identifying people at high risk of type 2 diabetes and stopping the disease before it is diagnosed.

03 July 2008

Diabetes link for men whose sisters have PCOS

Men whose sisters have Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) are at higher risk of type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

26 June 2008

People with type 1 satisfied with newer insulins

People with type 1 diabetes who take the newer insulin analogues report greater satisfaction and better quality of life.

For General Practitioners & Allied Health Professionals

For students: How the prediabetes campaign works

Campaign Objectives for 'Pre-diabetes. Act Now'
1. Reinforce and build the "Be Well-Know Your BGL" message.
2. Introduce the term pre-diabetes (IGT) as another risk factor for diabetes.

Campaign Outcomes
• Increased awareness of "Be Well – Know Your BGL" message
• Increased awareness and understanding of IGT and term pre-diabetes
• Motivate individuals who are in the high risk groups to check their BGL’s
• Encourage GPs to identify patients in the high risk groups and check their BGL as necessary
• Encourage the practice nurse to hand out the rub n reveal card and identify at risk patients
• Motivate health professionals to identify patients in high risk groups and refer them to GPs.

Timing
The campaign was launched on 13 July in National Diabetes Week. 'Pre-diabetes. Act now!' is the second stage of the "Be Well – Know Your BGL" campaign.

Target Market
Continuing the theme that people should know their blood glucose level (BGL), the campaign is aimed at people whose blood glucose levels are higher then normal but not yet high enough for a diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes. It will reach the estimated 2 million Australians who have pre-diabetes.

Key Message
Australians will be told that if left untreated, pre-diabetes may develop into Type 2 diabetes within 5 to10 years and is also the major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. It is a ‘good news’ campaign because people with pre-diabetes can prevent or delay Type 2 diabetes, through lifestyle changes - healthy eating and physical activity.

Marketing and Communication Strategy
Phase 1 - March to June 2003
Target: Australia’s 20,000 GP’s and allied health professionals.

General Practitioners
Information kits were distributed to GPs nationally by representatives of Alphapharm and a Diabetes Australia mailout. The kit contained a covering letter, GP Patient Care Advice card, wall poster, pre-diabetes risk factors in the form of an interactive rub n reveal scratchie, and Just Been Diagnosed stick-it notes for doctors to give to patients on diagnosis.

Practice Nurses
For the first time, practice nurses were brought into the campaign. They received a practice nurse brochure, which gave information on risk factors and requested that the rub n reveal test be distributed to patients before seeing the doctor.

Allied Health Professionals
Information kits were distributed to community health centres, pharmacies, podiatrists, optometrists and diabetes centres. The kit contained a covering letter, wall poster, desk top advice card and rub n reveal health check cards.

Phase 2 – July to December 2003
Target: The estimated 2 million Australians who have pre-diabetes.

Television Commercial
A television commercial was used to encourage the target audience to ask their doctor about pre-diabetes. A thought provoking 30-second commercial featured a group of people going up in a lift. It included Norman Day, a person diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes as a result of the Be Well-Know Your BGL campaign who tells viewers that it wasn’t until he had his BGL checked that he discovered he had diabetes.

Public Relations
Media releases and case study stories were sent to all medical / pharmaceutical / health related magazines before the launch.
Media kits were compiled featuring six media releases covering different news angles. These were sent to television programs, radio stations, metropolitan and regional newspapers.
Filler ads were supplied to newspapers both regional and suburban.

Website
The 'Pre-diabetes, Act now!' website contains the most comprehensive medical and lifestyle management data made available for the first time. It includes a downloadable Diabetes Diagnostic Model to provide doctors with an immediate analysis of blood test results. For the general public there is extensive information on lifestyle, healthy eating and physical activity. There is an electronic rub ‘n’ reveal for people to try on line and email to a friend.

Campaign Evaluation
Extensive evaluation will be carried out to assess campaign awareness levels and message takeout, understanding of the term pre-diabetes, recall of television/radio/print advertising and number of people diagnosed as a result of the campaign. Diabetes Australia new members, allied health professionals and GP’s will be surveyed between October and December 2003. Other indicators which will be tracked are; NDSS registrations, HIC tests, Diabetes Australia membership figures, website traffic, and telephone enquiries.

Useful information
Diabetes Fact Sheet (PDF)