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2002 Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Max Smith, 212/558-5371; msmith@nul.org

NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE?S LIFT EVERY VOICE CAMPAIGN URGES PREVENTION IN THE FIGHT AGAINST DIABETES

Free ?Lift Every Voice? Brochure Offers Tips on Lifestyle Changes That Can Help Prevent or Delay Onset of Diabetes

New York, NY, Oct. 30, 2002?Just in time for November?s National Diabetes Awareness Month, the National Urban League Institute for Opportunity and Equality today announced that beginning November 1, its Lift Every Voice Diabetes Awareness Initiative will work to educate Americans about simple lifestyle changes they can make to delay or prevent the onset of diabetes.

Through the campaign?made possible by generous support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Diabetes Education Program?the League is offering a free brochure that contains facts and information to educate people about diabetes, from recognizing the symptoms of diabetes to simple dietary and lifestyle changes they can make to help control the disease.

To receive a copy, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: ATT: Lift Every Voice Diabetes Brochure Offer, The National Urban League Institute for Opportunity and Equality, 1111 14^th Street, N.W., Suite 1001, Washington, DC, 20005.

In terms of how diabetes impacts the African American community, Dr. Maya Rockeymoore, senior resident scholar for the National Urban League Institute for Opportunity and Equality, points to the following statistics:

An estimated 2.3 million African Americans, or 10.8 percent, have diabetes.
African Americans are one of the high-risk groups for Type 2 diabetes.
For every six white Americans who have diabetes, 10 African Americans have diabetes.
The death rate for African Americans with diabetes is 27 percent higher than that for white Americans with diabetes.

?As grim as this news is, major studies show that simple lifestyle changes such as those outlined in our Lift Every Voice brochure, especially dietary changes to lower calorie intake and increased physical activity, can help to delay and even prevent the onset of this costly and potentially debilitating illness,? Dr. Rockeymoore said.

In addition to the free brochure offer, the Urban League is also encouraging its affiliates nationwide who operate diabetes awareness and outreach initiatives to step up their efforts during the month of November in conjunction with the Lift Every Voicecampaign. Some examples of what Urban League affiliates are doing include:

The Louisville (KY) Urban League engages local physicians in an initiative to educate diabetics about their disease and how to best manage their condition so that complications from diabetes can be reduced.
The Houston Area Urban League works with African American men in local churches and participants in their housing program between the ages of 45-60 to educate them about diabetes and increase the number of people screened for the disease.
The Urban League of Greater Miami encourages weight loss among participants in their Adult Housing Residents program through nutrition and diabetes awareness education. The affiliate also promotes weight loss among children in their after school program by promoting healthy eating habits and physical activity.
The Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle seeks to increase the number of glucose and cholesterol screenings for adults and people with disabilities living in senior residences.

All of the more than 100 Urban League affiliates nationwide will have copies of the free Lift Every Voice diabetes information brochure available for distribution. Contact information for Urban League affiliates is available at www.nul.org, or by calling 212-558-5300.