The first Al-Bawasil camp was held in January 1999 and it has been held every year since. This year a virtual event was held organised by the Qatar Diabetes Association (QDA).
The camp involved 40 children with diabetes aged 7 to 11 from nine diabetes associations from Qatar, Sudan, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, and Pakistan.
The QDA’s Executive Director, Dr Abdulla al-Hamaq, told Gulf News: “The QDA online camps allow the children to engage in the learning process and in the discussions of diabetes management with our medical team. We’re bringing the spirit of the residential camps right into their own homes as some of them have never been to a camp in person.”
Physical camps and children’s lobby events have been held in numerous countries before Covid, but these have involved significant expense and considerable organisation. A virtual on-line event could be a way to involve even more participants post covid.
Advocacy Action: Does your national diabetes association (NDA) hold a camp, lobby event, young person’s get together? Could you launch one in conjunction with your national diabetes association, or other health or young people’s organisation?