Awareness

In the first of a series of articles on the role the internet can play as a tool for advocacy, we take a look at www.idf.org in order to highlight recent changes to our own website, explain how the present content can be exploited, and preview some of the plans we have for future development.

Editor-in-Chief's editorial

It all started in 1996, when the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) published a document entitled 'European Dimension of Diabetes Research'. Since then, enormous progress has been made towards a greater recognition of the relevance of diabetes research at European Union level.

President's editorial

According to World Health Organization (WHO) figures, 23 million people in India have diabetes, more than in any other country in the world. By 2025, this number is expected to increase to over 57 million. In other words, one in seven people in India will have diabetes. The increasing prevalence of diabetes seen throughout Asia is a reflection of the effects of westernization, urbanization, and mechanization, all of which are associated with a sedentary life style. Diabetes requires life-long treatment and impacts upon people's daily lives. It carries the risk of chronic complications.

Although the exact magnitude of the problem in Africa is not well understood, diabetes is a serious threat to public health throughout the continent. In 2003, the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) predicted that by 2010, diabetes prevalence in Africa would increase by around 95%. Ignoring diabetes could lead to the breakdown of the fragile health systems in Africa, which are already overwhelmed by communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV/AIDS.

Even among policy makers at an international and national level, awareness about the public health and clinical importance of diabetes remains low. Diabetes is widely perceived as a condition of low importance to the poorer populations in the world. In the low- and middle-income countries, the impact of diabetes is largely unrecognized. Yet the world is facing a dramatic rise in diabetes prevalence, most of which will occur in the low- and middle-income countries.

President's editorial

President's editorial

Editor-in-Chief's editorial