Proclamation 4779—National Diabetes Week, 1980

Diabetes, a disorder in which the body is unable properly to convert nutrients into energy, affects approximately 10 million Americans. As the fifth leading cause of death by disease, it has become a serious and widespread public health problem. Diabetes is a major contributing factor to heart attacks, stroke, kidney failure and blood vessel disease, and the number of diabetics is increasing in all age groups. The medical cost of diabetes is also on the rise, approaching $7 billion annually-and that does not even take into account the complications of the disease. But the highest price of all is paid in terms of the quality of its victims' lives.

Not since the discovery of insulin over half a century ago, however, has the outlook for advances in the treatment, cure and ultimate prevention of diabetes been as promising as it is today. In recent years, research has yielded new and exciting information about the causes and treatment of diabetes and its complications.

The National Diabetes Mellitus Research and Education Act of 1974 provided the impetus for the intensified research effort now under way in hospitals and medical centers around the country. The Federal Government, in cooperation with private voluntary organizations, is leading the research challenge with a multiagency attack on the disease. This continuing coordinated approach is expected to lead not only to more effective methods of diabetes control but eventually to a reduction in the impact of this disease on the people and economy of this Nation.

By Joint Resolution enacted April 2, 1980 (Public Law 96-224), the Congress has designated the week beginning October 5, 1980, as National Diabetes Week.

Now, Therefore, I, Jimmy Carter, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the week beginning October 5 through October 11, 1980 as National Diabetes Week and I call upon the people of the United States to observe that week with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this eighth day of August, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fifth.

JIMMY CARTER