International Women`s Day (March 8) is a worldwide remembrance of women`s social, economic, cultural, and political accomplishments. This day also served as a rallying cry for greater gender equality. 

 

 

♦ For more than a century, International Women`s Day (IWD) has been observed. One million people from Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland attended the first International Women`s Day celebration in 1911. 

♦ This was previously known as "National Women`s Day," which was established by the United States on February 28, 1909. This is because the labour movement started in New York City in 1908, when 15,000 female workers went on strike to protest unfair working conditions.  

♦ National Women`s Day was not recognised as International Women`s Day until 1910, after German women`s rights activist Clara Zetkin made proposals at an international conference. 

♦ Since women in Soviet Russia gained the right to vote on this day in 1917, March 8 was proclaimed a national holiday. The United Nations General Assembly has called on member states to declare March 8 as UN Women`s Rights and World Peace Day in 1977.

 

 

♦ Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world.

 

 

March 10 was designated as the "National Gestational Diabetes Awareness Day." On March 10, 2019, India celebrated the world`s first National Gestational Diabetes Awareness Day.

 

 

♦ The day`s goal is to raise national awareness about the connection between maternal health and diabetes, as well as to invite pregnant women to free screenings at hospitals and clinics. 

♦ The commemoration was first proposed in 2016, when more than 300 representatives from South Asian countries signed the Colombo Declaration. 

♦ The National Health Mission of India is the first government ministry to declare this day a national holiday. 

♦ Trainings for healthcare workers, news conferences, awareness-raising events, workshops for women`s organisations, and comprehensive screenings were all held to commemorate the day. 

♦ Dr. V Seshiah, a diabetes specialist, was born on March 10th, and his birthday was chosen. He has made important contributions to gestational diabetes science, strategy, and implementation. 

 

 

♦ Impaired Glucose Tolerance (IGT) that starts or is first recognised during pregnancy is known as Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM). 

♦ Hyperglycemia in Pregnancy is another name for GDM (HIP). Gestational diabetes is a disorder that causes blood sugar levels to increase during pregnancy. 

♦ Thirty percent of the 3 million women with GDM go on to develop type 2 diabetes within five to ten years of giving birth, further increasing the number of diabetics in the world. 

♦ India’s GDM rate is 26.3%, the highest in the world.