World Diabetes Day, held on 14 November, marks the birthday of Frederick Banting, one of the two men who first successfully used insulin to treat Type1 diabetes in 1922. It was an important discovery that ultimately enabled those with the condition to lead normal lives.

In May 1921, Banting, a Canadian doctor, along with medical student Charles Best, managed to isolate the hormone insulin. The Manchester Guardian reported the discovery on 13 September 1922. The following year, on 23 July 1923, the 'epoch-making discovery', as the Guardian put it, began to be acknowledged by the medical profession.

Banting was awarded a share of the 1923 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his achievement, donating part of the prize to research. He became head of the University of Toronto's Banting and Best Department of Medical Research and was knighted in 1934. He died on 21 February 1941 in a plane crash while on a war mission.

World Diabetes Day is the primary global awareness campaign of the diabetes world. It was introduced in 1991 by the International Diabetes Federation in response to the alarming rise of diabetes around the world