<p>He was speaking after inaugurating the pan-India diabetes programme - Changing Diabetes in Children (CDiC) initiated by Novo Nordisk Education Foundation. The initiative aims to give children below poverty line access to comprehensive diabetes care and management.<br />Kalam said: “Diabetes is not a disease, but disorder. It can be corrected by proper treatment. Hence, parents should be cheerful and make their children suffering from diabetes cheerful as well.”</p>.<p>“One out of every 20 individuals in rural areas is a diabetic and one out of every six persons in urban areas is a diabetic. We should introspect regarding trends in rural and urban areas. It is lifestyle which makes all the difference,” Kalam said. <br /><br />There are over 6,000 villages in the country where more than 700 million people live. Hence, creating awareness is extremely crucial. Timely diagnosis is crucial for the proper treatment of this disease. Mobile screening units should be set up at government hospitals, he added.<br /><br />Kits handed over<br /></p>.<p>Kalam handed over kits for treatment of diabetes in children. He also released booklets on Type I diabetes in children in six languages. Dr E V Ramana Reddy, Secretary to Health and Family Welfare Department, promised the government’s support for the project. <br /><br />H E Freddy Svane, Ambassador of Denmark to India, Prof A K Das, Additional Director General of Health Services, Government of India and Prof K M Prasanna Kumar of CDiC, India were present.<br /><br />Courage is the key<br /></p>.<p>Kalam recalled an incident when he was the President and said courage was the key weapon to defeat all diseases. <br /><br />Kalam met a group of around 30 tribal youths in Andhra Pradesh on August 28, 2006. When asked about their dreams, Srikanth, a visually-challenged youth, said he wanted to become the first visually-challenged President of India. Srikanth scored 90 per cent in SSLC, 96 per cent in Class XII and won a scholarship to study engineering in Cambridge, USA. The chief of the foundation which funded Srikanth’s higher studies, requested him to stay back in the USA and work with his foundation. Srikanth said if he cannot become the President of India, then he will come back and join him. Such a great transformation had occurred in him purely because of courage, Kalam added.</p>
<p>He was speaking after inaugurating the pan-India diabetes programme - Changing Diabetes in Children (CDiC) initiated by Novo Nordisk Education Foundation. The initiative aims to give children below poverty line access to comprehensive diabetes care and management.<br />Kalam said: “Diabetes is not a disease, but disorder. It can be corrected by proper treatment. Hence, parents should be cheerful and make their children suffering from diabetes cheerful as well.”</p>.<p>“One out of every 20 individuals in rural areas is a diabetic and one out of every six persons in urban areas is a diabetic. We should introspect regarding trends in rural and urban areas. It is lifestyle which makes all the difference,” Kalam said. <br /><br />There are over 6,000 villages in the country where more than 700 million people live. Hence, creating awareness is extremely crucial. Timely diagnosis is crucial for the proper treatment of this disease. Mobile screening units should be set up at government hospitals, he added.<br /><br />Kits handed over<br /></p>.<p>Kalam handed over kits for treatment of diabetes in children. He also released booklets on Type I diabetes in children in six languages. Dr E V Ramana Reddy, Secretary to Health and Family Welfare Department, promised the government’s support for the project. <br /><br />H E Freddy Svane, Ambassador of Denmark to India, Prof A K Das, Additional Director General of Health Services, Government of India and Prof K M Prasanna Kumar of CDiC, India were present.<br /><br />Courage is the key<br /></p>.<p>Kalam recalled an incident when he was the President and said courage was the key weapon to defeat all diseases. <br /><br />Kalam met a group of around 30 tribal youths in Andhra Pradesh on August 28, 2006. When asked about their dreams, Srikanth, a visually-challenged youth, said he wanted to become the first visually-challenged President of India. Srikanth scored 90 per cent in SSLC, 96 per cent in Class XII and won a scholarship to study engineering in Cambridge, USA. The chief of the foundation which funded Srikanth’s higher studies, requested him to stay back in the USA and work with his foundation. Srikanth said if he cannot become the President of India, then he will come back and join him. Such a great transformation had occurred in him purely because of courage, Kalam added.</p>
