EVERY week it seems we are being bombarded with messages and publicity stunts designed to raise our 'awareness' of one thing or another. As long as we are all 'aware' of something it no longer seems to matter whether anything is done about it or not.

Perhaps it is just one more symptom of the progressive 'message' obsession which recently left the bosses of a well-known charity to defend the accusation that it had in one year spent more of its income on publicity and 'raising awareness' than it had actually spent on alleviating the problems it had been set up to resolve.

However, there are some efforts to raise our awareness of a sometimes hidden problem which can only have a positive result. Using an Ilkley supermarket as a base, the diabetic team from Airedale General Hospital will attempt to spread the message across Ilkley.

Diabetes is not called 'the silent killer' for nothing. For every recorded sufferer in the UK, it is estimated that there is another who does not know he or she has the condition.

Symptoms can vary in manifestation and seriousness, leaving some people able to carry on as normal, only vaguely aware that they have something wrong.

Others can suffer from diabetes without experiencing any significant symptoms at all. Yet even without obvious symptoms, the disease can be causing progressive long-term damage to vital organs such as the kidneys, heart and eyes.

With the correct monitoring, treatment and lifestyle changes, this damage can be kept to a minimum, allowing sufferers to enjoy long and healthy lives.

In the case of diabetes, efforts to raise awareness deserve wholehearted support.