Fighting diabetes, from here to the UN

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Story Published: Jan 7, 2007 at 6:33 PM PST

By Andy Peterson

"Diabetes has been ignored for far too long," Clare Rosenfeld says, "and the UN resolution on diabetes says diabetes is important."

It was a goal, many folks said, could never happen. A task, impossible. But on December 21st, the United Nations passed a resolution recognizing diabetes as a global threat, on par with HIV, or malaria. A resolution that started here, in a Eugene living room.

"We put together our initial thoughts," says Clare's mom, Kari. "And then, when...the People's Republic of Bangladesh picked up our resolution and they chose to sponsor it, then they took the resolution and they formalized it and wrote it in the way it should be written."

Twenty-year-old Clare Rosenfeld and her mom were working in South Africa when they got the call that their resolution was going to happen. The G-77, a group of developing nations that vote as a bloc, were on board.

"So that was the big moment for me," Clare Rosenfeld explains, "because we knew pretty much at that point that it was going to pass. And it was incredibly exciting."

"The emails were flying, we were all online with each other, all of my colleagues in Brussels and Australia," Kari Rosenfeld recalls. "This resolution was embraced by people all around the world. Everyone worked together to make this happen."

But while many folks would consider this achievement a fantastic ending to a long campaign, for Clare and Kari, the real work is just beginning.

"I'm going to be working on making this resolution mean something to people around the world," Clare Rosenfeld says, "here in the United States and in this own community, all the way to El Salvador, and Bangladesh."

It was once a task thought impossible, and now a dream come true.

The next big event on Clare Rosenfeld's plate is a panel discussion this March, where she will share ideas with a variety of global figures, including former President Bill Clinton.

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