Health organizations

The Steno Diabetes Center was founded in 1932. It has since been a leading player in the struggle against diabetes through clinical care and development, and wide research activities. During the 1980s, the paternalistic model of care was shown to be inadequate to cover the demands of people with diabetes. The need for coaching, learning and education became clear. A team approach was gradually developed, involving nurses, dietitians and foot specialists, as well as physicians.

Since the National Certification Board for Diabetes Educators (the organization responsible for certification of diabetes educators in the USA) was established in 1986, the importance and prevalence of professional certification have increased dramatically. New certification programmes are increasingly being developed for more and more occupations and professional specialties, while existing certification organizations are expanding their certification offerings.

It is estimated that over 3 million deaths each year are directly related to diabetes. Of greatest concern is that diabetes prevalence appears to be highest in the low- and middle-income countries. Managing diabetes, a complex task in ideal circumstances, can be made extremely difficult in emergency situations. Millions of people around the world live under constant threat from armed conflict or natural disasters, such as floods, hurricanes and earthquakes. The difficulties faced by poor and underserved people in accessing diabetes care are exacerbated in times of catastrophe.

The third edition of the Diabetes Atlas was launched in December 2006, at the 19th World Diabetes Congress of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) in Cape Town, South Africa. The aim of the Atlas, which has been described as the flagship publication of IDF, is to provide the most recent and accurate information on diabetes in 2007 and provide estimates of the likely impact of the condition up to 2025. Its purpose is to disseminate the most up-to-date and salient facts concerning the scope, impact and burden of diabetes globally and on a regional and country-by-country basis.

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 sale of counterfeit products is a problem in most countries. Every year, about 7% of world trade, valued at about 280 billion USD, is lost due to counterfeiting. In the information technology sector, products worth an estimated 20 billion USD are currently in circulation. But the huge financial losses incurred by manufacturers and individual customers as a result of the trafficking of fake goods are overshadowed by the tragic human costs: the pharmaceutical industry, and consequently the marketplace, are flooded with counterfeits.

Contrary to the now outdated idea of diabetes as a disease of rich people in rich countries, the condition is increasingly widespread in Africa. Mali, the second-largest country in West Africa, bordering the Sahara desert to the north and Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal to the south, has not escaped the budding epidemic of type 2 diabetes. Overall prevalence is thought to exceed 2% – nearly a quarter of a million people. Most of these have type 2 diabetes and live in the urban areas.

Diabetes is emerging as a serious public-health problem in South Africa, particularly in the urban areas, where social welfare and health systems are precarious, and there is a lack of access to appropriate health information. Diabetes South Africa (DSA), established in 1969, advocates for the rights of all people with diabetes in the country.

Throughout the world, socially disadvantaged people with inadequate access to health resources suffer worse health status and die younger than people in more privileged social positions. Yet although the greatest share of health problems is attributable to living conditions, health policies are dominated by disease-focused solutions that largely ignore the social environment. As a result, inequalities have widened and health interventions have obtained less than optimal results.

In 2003, a 16-year-old girl with diabetes had an idea which looks set to change the face of diabetes. Not long after his election as President-Elect of the International Diabetes Federation, Martin Silink was approached by Clare Rosenfeld, who spoke of her dream of a United Nations Resolution on diabetes. Inspired by Clare’s dream, Martin Silink spent the subsequent two years gauging the opinion of the diabetes stakeholders and garnering worldwide support for a UN Resolution. He