JDRF - Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation

In an exciting step forward for Australian type 1 diabetes research, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has confirmed that the Australian Government will provide $5 million funding to support the establishment of an Australian Clinical Trial Network for Type 1 Diabetes.

This announcement stems from the Prime Minister’s initial commitment to match the generous $500,000 pledge made by JDRF President Dr Sue Alberti AO at the recent Federal Kids in the House event in Canberra.

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Prime Minister Kevin Rudd yesterday committed to match a $500,000 funding contribution made by President of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) in Australia, Dr Susan Alberti AO. He also committed to additional matching government funding for JDRF to a total of $5 million into the future.

One hundred JDRF Youth Ambassadors aged 3 to 32, all with type 1 diabetes, converged on Parliament House to personally ask for government funding for type 1 diabetes research and a Clinical Trials Network (CTN).

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One hundred Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Youth Ambassadors aged 3 to 40, all with type 1 diabetes, will converge on Canberra to plead for continued government funding for type 1 diabetes research on 18 March.

Supported by a crowd of family members, total numbers at Kids in the House will hit 300. They are visiting Canberra as representatives of the 140,000 children and adults in Australia with type 1 diabetes, and the tens of thousands more who care for them.

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On Tuesday 28 July 40 children with type 1 diabetes from around Victoria visited Parliament House for Kids in the House. The Kids met with 25 Members of Parliament to tell them their compelling stories about life with this difficult disease and their hopes for a cure.

V8 Supercar driver Jack Perkins, who has type 1 diabetes, launched the World’s Biggest Fingerprick. With MPs and supporters taking part, more than 170 people joined together to prick their finger and share a moment of life with type 1 diabetes on the steps of Parliament House.

Fingerpricks are an essential part of the painful daily routine that keeps people with type 1 diabetes alive.

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“Remember, don’t call him ‘Barack’ or ‘Obama’. He should only be addressed as ‘Mr. President’”, explained a JDRF staffer at Children’s Congress 2009 in Washington in June. The meeting with the President of the United States was a first in the history of Children’s Congress, America’s equivalent to our Kids in the House events. Thirteen year old Sydney boy Brendan, Australia’s delegate to Children’s Congress, was thrilled to be in Washington to join the occasion.

The Presidential meeting was a secret until the previous day, to avoid disappointment in the event that the schedule had to be changed. Luckily the meeting went to plan, and so Brendan joined the 150 other delegates from across the US and the world who buzzed with anticipation as they visited the heavily guarded presidential residence. Few people are granted access to this building, so envious parents, volunteers and staff were not permitted to join the photo shoot. A close encounter with one of the world’s most powerful men was saved just for the children; after all they are the ones with type 1 diabetes and the best advocates for government support.

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