American Girl doll comes with a diabetes kit

With the quadruple rise in global diabetes cases from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014, understanding how to take care of a diabetic person would help manage the chronic ailment better.

A toy manufacturer in the US came out with a $24 (AUD$32) diabetes kit for the American Girl doll. The kit is made up of a glucose monitor, insulin pump, injection pen needle, glucose tablets, medical brace and lancing device, reports Fortune.

The kit would make living with the disease more bearable for young girls with Type 1 diabetes which requires the patient to count the amount of carbs taken in, monitor blood sugar level and inject herself with insulin.

The release of a kit was the idea of Anja Busse, a 13-year-old Type 1 diabetic who was diagnosed with the disease in 2014. Busse wrote a petition for doll manufacturers to come up with accessories related to diabetes, reports The New York Times. After the petition garnered 7,000 signatures, American Girl responded and made the kit.

Besides helping young girls cope with the ailment, Busse hopes the kit would also help people distinguish between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. She points out that Type 2 diabetes is often confused with Type 1 which is genetic and cannot be prevented. Type 2 is usually caused by poor diet or weight problems.

Parents who themselves are diabetics or have kids with the disease are thankful for the doll kit because it helps explaining the ailment to younger family members.

MommaSharp writes in the Comments section of American Girl’s website that she bought the kit for her niece. “It helps her understand the device my daughter wear and I wear daily, further explaining how and why we get insulin through a pump was much easier.”

1LoveLacey has a granddaughter who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes a year ago when the child was three. She says, “This diabetes care kit will go a long way in helping her feel ‘part of the gang’ by giving her an opportunity to teach others about her diabetes.”

Other than the diabetes kit, American Girl has other doll accessories such as wheelchairs, hearing aids and service dogs as part of its mission to create dolls that speak to diversity and inclusion, says a company spokesman.