The International Diabetes Federation came up with and owns the rights to the blue circle that has come to be recognized as the Universal Diabetic Symbol around the world. It is a thick lined blue circle, hollow in the middle, and very simple in design. If you aren’t familiar with it and want to see the diabetic symbol, you can go to the website of the IDF and see it, or search for it using any search engine. It was designed to give diabetes a common identity around the world. The diabetic symbol was introduced in 2006 so that a simple symbol could be used to raise awareness of diabetes globally, and provide a symbol to be used to advocate for diabetic causes that needs no words and can cross language barriers, culture barriers, and sort of “brand” diabetes. The simplicity of the design couldn’t possibly be offensive to any group, and is used in a number of ways to support diabetes causes and help in the fight against the disease.

 

How can the Diabetic Symbol Be Used?

 

Although all rights are retained by the IDF, they encourage everyone to use it appropriately to reference diabetes and the many millions of people affected by diabetes. They allow the use of the diabetic symbol in magazines, brochures, videos, and any other way as long as the purpose isn’t to profit personally from its use. If it is to be used in a distributed publication or video, permission needs to be granted first, but no problems should be expected as long as the diabetic symbol isn’t used to to refer to or promote something besides diabetes. If the usage is to be used for merchandising, permission must be granted on a case-by-case basis and can be obtained by submitting your proposed usage idea to diabetessymbol@idf.org.

Some of the ways people have used the blue circle diabetic symbol include

  • Diabetes advocacy on posters or other printed material
  • T-shirts with the symbol to promote diabetes awareness
  • It can be used on flags or pins
  • It can be incorporated into artwork or other drawings as a symbol that needs no explanation or translation
  • Some people who are involved in the popular pastime of geocaching are using it on their individual caches that they hide for others to find.
  • Some advocates feel so strongly that they get diabetic symbol tattoos

 

How did the Diabetic Symbol Originate?

 

The diabetic symbol got its start in a campaign for a United Nations Resolution on diabetes. The resolution has as its aim to unite people around the world to mobilize resources in the fight to overcome the diabetes pandemic that officials fear will soon overwhelm healthcare resources of many countries. As a result, the UN passed resolution 61/225 which proclaims December 20th as World Diabetes Day.