National diabetes programmes

In many countries, young people work effectively as advocates for a range of causes, from inner-city regeneration to anti-bullying and smoking cessation. An IDF initiative aimed to engage Youth Ambassadors in diabetes advocacy worldwide and specifically to participate at as many levels as possible in IDF’s global awareness campaign ’Unite For Diabetes’. In this article, representatives from the group describe the principles and objectives of the IDF Youth Ambassadors programme and make a call for increased involvement of young people in diabetes advocacy.

As early as 1989, the St Vincent Declaration warned Europeans of the dangers of ignoring the burgeoning diabetes epidemic. The Declaration called on governments, diabetes organizations and professional societies from countries throughout Europe to unite in efforts to tackle the growing challenge to healthcare in the region. There were high hopes among the European diabetes community that significant action would be taken. But despite the broad stakeholder support for the Declaration’s objectives, significant progress failed to materialize.

The human population of our planet is aging. According to UN projections, by the middle of this century, the number of elderly people in the world will exceed the number of young people – for the first time in history. This trend started during the last half of the 20th century. Yet policy-makers are only now becoming aware of the gravity of the implications for developing countries of the rapid pace at which our populations are ageing.

The move towards non-medical prescribing is a process that has evolved over the past 20 years. But some diabetes healthcare professionals continue to question its benefits. In this article, June James looks at the challenges surrounding non-medical prescribing and describes the training required for effective prescribing. The author focuses mainly on work undertaken in the UK but also explores non-medical prescribing in other countries, and the potential impact this might have on diabetes care worldwide.

According to the federal statistics agency of the Russian Federation, the country’s population is in a phase of negative growth and currently stands at around 143 million. There are 2.3 million people registered with diabetes, 2 million of whom have type 2 diabetes. However, according to recent epidemiological research, there may be some 8 million people living with the condition in Russia. Success in addressing the problems relating to diabetes and its complications largely depends on the effective organization of diabetes care at regional and national levels.

The 10-year National Diabetes Programme in Finland (DEHKO) has been up and running for 6 years. The formal evaluations carried out to date indicate that the Programme continues to have a positive impact in a number of areas of diabetes care in Finland. Moreover, prevention of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular complications remain the principle objectives of DEHKO. Timo Saaristo and Leena Etu-Seppälä report on FIN-D2D (2003-2007), the DEHKO project to implement primary prevention of type 2 diabetes in five regions – potentially affecting 1.5 million people.

Ten years ago, without evidence to suggest otherwise, diabetes was not considered a public priority in Cameroon; the emphasis of Government health policy was on tackling the HIV/AIDS epidemic and attempting to eradicate communicable diseases. Efforts had been made to set up centres specializing in diabetes and hypertension, but without the backing of a national diabetes programme, most of these closed within a few years. The lack of data on non-communicable diseases constituted a major roadblock to the development of any such programme.

Sudan is the largest country in Africa and one of the poorest in the world. Its population is estimated at around 37 million; the capital Khartoum, with approximately 6 million inhabitants, is growing rapidly. There are hundreds of ethnic and tribal divisions and language groups within the two distinct major cultures in Sudan – Arabs with Nubian roots and non-Arab Black Africans. The lack of effective collaboration among these groups continues to be a serious problem.

President's editorial

Diabetes, now a global epidemic, is the fourth leading cause of death in Taiwan. The most recent epidemiological data demonstrated that the prevalence of diabetes is approaching 5% and that the number of people with diabetes in Taiwan