We don’t often recommend watching TV here at Diabetes Self-Management, but at 8 PM on World Diabetes Day, which falls each year on November 14, there’s a documentary on the Sundance Channel that you might want to consider seeing.
It’s called Life for a Child, and it chronicles the lives of three young people (ages 3 to 16) with Type 1 diabetes who live in Nepal. The film was directed by Academy Award nominee Edward Lachman, and it is equally as effective at capturing the moving story of each child and his family as it is the stunning scenery of the Nepalese countryside and the bustling streets of Kathmandu. (The editors at Diabetes Self-Management had the opportunity to see Life for a Child when it was shown in New York in 2008, and we don’t think you’ll be disappointed.)
The movie was produced by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and Eli Lilly and Company in hopes of raising awareness of the impact of diabetes in developing countries and of raising support for the IDF’s Life for a Child program. This program provides access to care, education, insulin, and related supplies to children with diabetes in 19 of the world’s poorest countries, including Nepal. It is supported largely by donations.
If you don’t have access to the Sundance Channel, you can still see clips and still photographs from the movie — and learn more about the program — at the Life for a Child Web site. (Donations to the program made from the United States are tax-deductible.)