Kids with Diabetes, parents' support group in Donetsk, Ukraine

Advocating the special needs of children with diabetes in our city (many vital supplies for this category of children are in short supply or unavailable in Ukraine). Laws supporting our children's rights to be supplied with things required to prolong their lives through avoiding or delaying the devastating complications of diabetes (test strips, glucagon etc.), are absent or do not work.

Circulating the up-to-date information on diabetes care and diabetes self-management. Ukraine does not have a developed system of diabetes schools which are the key element in diabetes care in the U.S. and West Europen countries. We work with parents to instruct them in daily diabetes control issues. People say our information is often more up-to-date and helpful than that they receive from their doctors. We don't think it's normal (we would be MUCH MORE comfortable about our children's future if we could rely upon the knowledge of our healthcare professionals) but that's the way things are at the moment. Yet, our knowledge may also be limited, as it is generally based on fragmentary news gathered from printed sources coming from outside Ukraine, some foreign contacts, and Internet. THUS, WE WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM PEOPLE WHO COULD CONTRIBUTE THEIR VOLUNTEERS' EFFORTS INTO ARRANGING AND RUNNING A DIABETES SCHOOL IN OUR CITY.