London: The British capital's iconic Big Ben tower will be lit up in blue in honour of an appeal by the Silver Star diabetes charity founded by Indian-origin MP Keith Vaz to mark World Diabetes Day on Thursday. The Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, will bathe the Elizabeth Tower in blue light as part of the global Blue Monument Challenge. The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has agreed to light up the fountains at Trafalgar Square in blue, the colour used to signify diabetes awareness.
"Diabetes affects far too many people in London and across the UK. It is vitally important to raise awareness of a disease that is preventable and treatable and I am delighted to back this campaign," said Johnson. "I hope it will encourage more people to get tested, but also inspire more of us to think about what can do to reduce the risks ourselves, by getting more active and eating more healthily." The Blue Monument Challenge, started in 2007 by the International Diabetes Federation, has seen over 1,000 monuments and buildings in more than 80 countries being lit up in blue. Monuments previously covered under this include the London Eye in 2010, the Christ the Redeemer statue of Rio de Janeiro, Table Mountain in Cape Town in 2011 and Number 10 Downing Street in 2012, also on the request of Silver Star.
The UK-based charity runs Mobile Diabetes Units that carry out important diabetes testing. They seek to promote culturally sensitive healthcare and currently have units in London and Leicester in Britain and Mumbai and Goa in India. The units travel to community centres, schools, work places and places of worship to offer free diabetes testing and lifestyle advice. They have so far tested over 36,000 people on two continents. "Since I discovered I had type-2 diabetes by chance seven years ago, raising awareness for the condition and urging people to have a test has become so important to me," said Silver Star founder-patron Vaz, who is also chair of the influential Home Affairs Select Committee. "I strongly recommend that everyone take a diabetes test on World Diabetes Day," he said.
