Last summer it looked as though governments would never agree on Global NCD Targets – or if they did, they would be minimalist and not what was needed to catalyse change. IDF has been working towards a global monitoring framework for diabetes and NCDs as part of a longer term strategy that started well before the UN Summit on NCDs last year – and last week we finally got what we’ve been asking for.

I just spent a fascinating week in China.

It started at a WHO meeting with 14 countries from the Western Pacific Region discussing the big question: Now that the UN Summit on NCDs is over, how can governments committed to addressing NCDs and diabetes do so in resource poor settings?

As world leaders try to reach consensus in Rio at the most hotly anticipated development discussions in years – the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, or Rio+20 – it’s time to explain why this matters for diabetes.

Mother's Day, which is observed this Sunday in the USA along with many other countries, is a day to celebrate the gift of life we have been given and the women who gave us that gift. But amongst all the cards and commercialisation, Mother’s Day for me is always tinged with sadness as I remember one specific night at a hospital in a low income country when three young mothers were brought in dead on arrival.