Medical alert cards are carried by people with diabetes to inform others how to react should the a person with diabetes become hypoglycaemic, which occurs when blood sugar levels are too low. Diabetes is caused by the inability to produce insulin, which releases sugars from foods in the body. This is why the card recommends giving two tablespoons of sugar in water.

The British Diabetes Association, which issued this card, was set up in 1934 with the support of two people with diabetes, a doctor R D Lawrence (one of the earliest recipients of injected insulin) and the novelist H G Wells. The Association aimed to give access to insulin to everyone that needed it.