Sir – I am writing to say thank you to all your readers who are doing something during Diabetes Week (June 9 to 15) to help make life better for people who have diabetes or are at risk of developing it.

The focus of this year’s Diabetes Week is scientific research and people in Oxfordshire will be taking part in fundraising events and other activities to help us continue to fund life-changing research and raise awareness of the condition. Scientific research has already had a huge impact on diabetes. Until insulin was first successfully used in 1921, for example, a Type 1 diabetes diagnosis was effectively a death sentence but there are now thousands of people with the condition who live long and healthy lives. This would simply not have been possible without scientific research.

But there is still so much more we need to do. The number of people in the UK has now reached three million and managing the condition can be a real challenge.

Far too many people with diabetes are still developing devastating health complications and thousands a year are dying before their time. We urgently need to fund the kind of research that can help bring this to an end and that is why we are so grateful to those people in Oxfordshire who are giving up their time to help make this happen.

This is not something the Government is currently putting significant amounts of money into and so it largely falls to us at Diabetes UK to ensure we can fund scientists to continue their pioneering work.

For those people not already doing something for Diabetes Week, it’s still not too late to get involved by visiting www.diabetes.org.uk/diabetesweek You will be making a real difference to people’s lives.

Jill Steaton, South East regional manager, Diabetes UK