Silent Assassin awareness campaign
Information for professionals
The Silent Assassin is Diabetes UK’s biggest-ever UK-wide advertising campaign.
Key messages
Diabetes is serious
The Silent Assassin campaign aims to increase awareness of diabetes with the message ‘diabetes is serious’ – highlighting that diabetes can cause heart disease, stroke, amputation, kidney failure and blindness.
Learn how to beat it
However, the campaign also includes the important message ‘Learn how to beat it’. With early diagnosis and by leading a healthier lifestyle and improving diabetes control the risk of developing these serious complications can be minimised.
Diabetes UK is providing support and information for people at risk of developing diabetes, and for people with diabetes on reducing the risk of complications.
Your support is vital to success
Diabetes UK believes that the powerful messages in ‘Silent Assassin’ are vital to raise awareness with the general public and for the many people with diabetes who are suffering unnecessarily because they underestimate the seriousness of the condition.
With front-line exposure to those at risk of developing diabetes, and those who have diabetes, your support is vital in helping to ensure these people are identified and treated.
We would ask you to remember the following:
- Patients at high risk of cardiovascular disease may also be at risk of Type 2 diabetes.
- Patients over 40, or over 25 if from a BAME group, should be assessed for Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
- Having a large waist not only increases a patient’s risk of Type 2 diabetes, but also cardiovascular disease.
- Early identification and effective treatment of diabetes is essential to reduce the risk of complications.
- People with diabetes are up to five times more likely to develop cardiovascular disease. South Asian people are at even higher risk.