The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa, concerned about the escalating incidence of diabetes in the African Region, presented a regional strategy for diabetes to be adopted by health ministers during the 57th session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa, held in August 2007 in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo. The strategy examined the situation of type 2 diabetes in the African Region and proposed methods to prevent and control the disease. During the 42th World Health Assembly in 1989, WHO adopted Resolution WHA42.36 on the prevention and control of diabetes, inviting Member States to evaluate the prevalence of diabetes at national level, take measures that focus on the local population and situation, and create a model for an integrated approach to the fight against diabetes at community level. Boureima Hama Sambo reports.