Content Summary : The American Diabetes Association is the nation’s leading nonprofit health organization providing diabetes research, information and advocacy. Founded in 1940, the Association conducts programs in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, reaching hundreds of communities. The mission of the organization is to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes. To fulfill this mission, the American Diabetes Association funds research, publishes scientific findings, provides information and other services to people with diabetes, their families, health care professionals and the public, and advocates for scientific research and for the rights of people with diabetes. The moving force behind our work is a network of more than one million volunteers, including a membership of over 445,000 diabetes patients and their families, and a professional society of nearly 19,000 researchers and health care providers. Today, about 21 million Americans, including 9.1 million women, have diabetes. Yet many don't even know they have the disease. Diabetes can be especially hard on women; the burden of diabetes on women is unique, because the disease can affect both mothers and their unborn children. Diabetes can cause difficulties during pregnancy such as a miscarriage or a baby born with birth defects. Women with diabetes are also more likely to have a heart attack, and at a younger age, than other women without diabetes. Also, women with diabetes are more likely to be poor which makes it harder to manage the disease.