Rosemary Moss will be helping out on the day taking registrations. Photo / Leanne Warr
It's known as the "hidden disease" to some but around 285,000 New Zealanders are affected by diabetes.
As an ambulance officer, Lions club spokesman Steve St Merat had seen his share of medical issues caused by diabetes.
"It's a very scary thing," he said.
It is one reason the Dannevirke Lions club was holding a walk this Saturday for diabetes prevention.
St Merat said the international organisation supported five core charities and Diabetes New Zealand was one the local club was focusing on this month.
They will be holding a Lap the Map, a 2km or 5km walk or run on Saturday starting from the Dannevirke Services and Citizens club carpark with an entry fee of $2.
Participants can register from 10am with the walk starting at 10.30am.
Diabetes was often known as the "hidden disease" because most people might not know they had it, St Merat said.
Tararua Health Group community diabetes nurse Vicky Stretch said diabetes was a chronic disease state in which blood glucose was elevated, which over time could cause serious complications such as heart, kidney, eye and nerve damage.
There were two types. In type one, the pancreas stopped making insulin or made very little.
Type two developed when the body didn't use its own insulin properly or was not making enough.
"Type two diabetes is considered a lifestyle disease because being overweight or obese significantly increases the risk for developing the condition," Stretch said.
Around one-third of the country's population was considered obese, based on a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or over and another third were overweight with a BMI of 25-30.
Other risk factors included a blood relative with diabetes, being pre-diabetic, those of Māori or Pasifika ethnicity and gestational diabetes (in pregnancy).
Stretch said regular health checks and blood tests which detected diabetes were recommended if someone was at risk of developing the disease.
Information can be found at www.diabetes.org.nz.
It's just over a week before changes begin but Health NZ can't say what they'll be.