On February 24, 2022, I remember quite vividly. That a sense of peace when I pulled back the hotel curtains in the morning and gazed at the familiar surrounding forests. It was a time to relax with family. Before breakfast, I quickly wanted to catch up on the latest news. The past few months had been tense, but the evening before, I breathed a sigh of relief as the military exercises near the Russo-Ukrainian border were reportedly over. I still didn’t know, in the early hours of the morning, the war officially began. Less than 5km as the crow flies separated me from Ukraine… I remember the conversation with the housekeeper, who had her husband, 17-year-old son, and daughter back in Ukraine. The uncertainty in her eyes as I told her to take the essentials and come quickly here, to a safer place… In a matter of days, adult men could no longer legally leave their country.

When an armed conflict affects your neighboring country, you perceive it differently. And I think all of us who live or have families in border areas have experienced the consequences, especially the onset of war, firsthand. When you are a parent of a child with a chronic disease whose life depends on medication and other aids for safe and precise administration, you see the armed conflict nearby from a different perspective. In a fraction of a second, I imagined these children, their mothers and fathers, and everything they must think about, on top of everything else. I wasn’t alone. It started with a single post on social media, and within seven days, we sent the first shipment of aid to Ukraine, especially to children and families with diabetes. A few parents like me, Lenka, Aranka, Kamila, but also Nikie and others… we found and got in touch with doctors, local representatives of diabetes organizations, Andrej, Naďa, and when Oleksander joined, thanks to Telekom and Accenture, they connected me with Martin. He was by my side day and night until he set up “DIASOS,” and there was hardly a diabetes organization that didn’t know DIASOS.org in the first months of the war. Hundreds of packages delivered to the address. Almost all of them were packed by Naďa herself until she was forced to leave her native Lviv with her children… It all happened quickly but very intensively. The strength with which we came together in the community was overwhelming. Over time, significant organizations coordinated and organized assistance, and our volunteer engagement could gradually diminish. In the second half of the year, thanks to Oleg, we joined those who help in crisis areas, such as Insulin for Life, Spare a Rose. We saw almost all the faces to whom we changed lives, even if only for a moment, in conditions we can’t even imagine. There’s little of that here.

We all hoped that the horrors of armed conflict would soon end, and we would all be able to meet once for real. Instead, today, after two years, we have taken war as a habit. I often wondered if Ukraine would suffer a fate similar to my friends in Cyprus… or where this war would lead. And humanitarian aid around has gone silent…

There has also been a lot of effort, many expert discussions, conferences, and several crisis plans have been developed or revised on how to proceed during a crisis involving people with diabetes. One of the latest examples was the IDF Virtual Congress 2023.

Instead of the unfulfilled dream of peace, the world is witnessing further armed conflicts escalating into wars, and the diabetes community remains deeply concerned, particularly by recent events in the Gaza. The United Nations (UN) reports difficulties in providing basic aid to displaced people and delivering insulin pens to children. Marianne Thoresen, from the Norwegian diabetic community, shared with me a statement from Doctors Without Borders, stating that they have never seen anything like this before. They were able to deliver equipment and medicines to the most remote and challenging areas across the planet. What they see in Gaza is a humanitarian crisis, and they have never experienced anything similar.

Organization Life for a child (known from the campaign with the blue balloon #blueballoonchallenge) has been helping children with diabetes in Gaza since 2020. In its statement on the situation on February 14, it writes: The health and humanitarian situation of children with diabetes in Gaza is devastating due to non-stop bombardments. Young people are often hospitalized for diabetic coma caused by the lack of insulin and food. There is malnutrition and very soon expected starvation that people will be facing in the upcoming days.

And once again, I am witnessing the incredible solidarity, organization, and unstoppable commitment of the diabetic community. For few days, we have been working on compiling: Statement of Consensus: Urging Uninterrupted Insulin Access in Humanitarian Crises.

Almost 30 initiators, individuals. People from the global Diabetologic online community, who live with type 1 diabetes firsthand all over the world, united to call with one voice, and others join in. On February 14th, Lucia Feito Allonca had the opportunity to present our joint initiative at #docday° community event of #dedoc°. You can watch the entire presentation and event here. I want to express how immensely proud I am of these young and passionate individuals, whose work on this joint project I have the privilege to witness up close. Honored to stand with them, amazed, but also hurt, as a mother who witnesses the fact that even in 2024, the most vulnerable still have to fight for their rights, with the greatest strength.

Today, our Statement is part of a global petition, which we ask you to support here: Urgency for uninterrupted access to insulin in humanitarian crises. Because no insulin, for people who need it to live, means certain death. And honestly, I can’t imagine a single person in the world who shouldn’t sign up for this common call. By sharing and encouraging at least one person to sign, you will help amplify our unified voice, so that our effort for unrestricted access to insulin resonates worldwide.

Furthermore, we do believe, it is necessary to apply this insulin-related request to all other life-saving medications for people suffering from chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

Please sign and share the #insulinconsensus petition to collaboratively enable equitable access to insulin. We will never make a habit of being silent witnesses to the continuous expansion of violations of basic human rights to life and health in the world!

Listen to the call: