250 People Tested for Diabetes on BIU Campus

Bar-Ilan University’s Azrieli Faculty of Medicine and the Russel Berrie Galilee Diabetes SPHERE project initiated community testing for the early detection of the disease in November – National Diabetes Awareness Month.  As part of this initiative, a mobile diabetes-testing clinic of the Israel Diabetes Association came to the Bar-Ilan campus in Ramat Gan and performed free testing without prior registration.

During the month of November, the mobile clinic of the Israel Diabetes Association also visited senior citizen centers and other locations in the partner cities in the project. The mobile team performed free blood tests for diabetes, checked blood pressure and offered an AIC test. In addition, the retirees heard a lecture on managing a healthy lifestyle.

Prof. Naim Shehadeh, President of the Israel Diabetes Association and Director of the Russel Berrie Galilee Diabetes SPHERE, relates that by the year 2040, the number of diabetics is expected to reach 600 million worldwide, and one million in Israel. Currently, some 900,000 people in Israel have been diagnosed as pre-diabetic, and every year about 6% of the pre-diabetics become diabetic. According to a health and social profile of Israeli localities, the Northern District has the highest rate of diabetes cases and deaths resulting from diabetes.  “The data shows that Galilee residents are at a three times higher risk for diabetes and resultant complications, and thus it was decided to establish a social-medical-research project that will operate throughout the Galilee.”

The Russel Berrie Galilee Diabetes SPHERE is the most comprehensive project in the history of the State of Israel that deals with diabetes care. It was launched about a year ago with an investment of $75 million over ten years. The project, led by Bar-Ilan University’s Azrieli Faculty of Medicine in Safed, combines research and treatment, and integrates academia and the community, with the aim of improving lifestyles, as well as preventing and reducing morbidity and complications caused by diabetes. As part of the project, during the past year, five towns in the Galilee have already benefited from workshops and testing for early detection of pre-diabetics, and in the coming year, two more towns will join.

Diabetes Awareness Month events were held under the auspices of the municipalities of Safed, Sakhnin, Shfaram, Nazareth – partners in the Russel Berrie Galilee Diabetes SPHERE project – as well as the Israel Diabetes Association, the Maccabi Health Services, and the Clalit Health Services.