About us
Our Goal: a world without type 1 diabetes!
That is the highest goal that we aim for at the Hippo & Friends type 1 diabetes fund. The fund supports scientific research into the causes and disease progression of type 1 diabetes, but also into new medicines and treatment methods to prevent and cure type 1 diabetes. There is certainly progress, but basic research, without quick results, is simply moving forward in mouse steps, and we have to be honest about that in communication with patients. It is important that scientists also listen to patients.
Raising awareness is also extremely important! There are still too many misunderstandings about type 1 diabetes. This chronic autoimmune disease strikes randomly in children and young adults who are simply living a healthy life. About 50,000 Belgians now have type 1 diabetes and figures from the Belgian Diabetes Register (BDR) show that every year about 10 new type 1 patients under the age of 40 are added per 100,000 inhabitants. It is striking that type 1 diabetes is being diagnosed at an increasingly younger age. With the diabetes fund and the non-profit organization Hippo and Friends we want to raise awareness for (the impact of) type 1 diabetes through various channels and media and we want to focus on the development of educational material and programs. We consider it of paramount importance to promote the quality of life of people with type 1 diabetes by investing in (online and hands-on) educational sport programs like DiaT1op.