Education

The role and responsibilities of the private sector in global health and development have evolved in recent decades. The view that the only responsibility of business is to return a profit to stakeholders is being weakened by the dawn of corporate shared values and a mushrooming of public-private partnerships, both of which have resulted in the leveraging of resources and expertise of the private sector to bear on many contemporary global health challenges.

Helen Clark, Administrator of the UN Development Programme, reflects on the development agenda post-2015 and explains how better prevention and care of Non-communicable Diseases fit into her vision for a broader development goal thereby decreasing the threat NCDs pose to progress.

Professor Bong Yun Cha, Chairman of the Korean Diabetes Association and Dr. Touch Khun, Chief of Diabetology at the Preah Kossamak Hospital in Phnom Penh, Cambodia report on the exciting partnership reflected in the IDF’s Association Twinning Initiative. Learn how people living with diabetes in Cambodia are getting extra help for better care by virtue of the first and more significantly, the second, Cambodia-Korea Twinning Project.

In recent decades, more women of a reproductive age have diabetes, and more pregnancies are complicated by pre-existing diabetes especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Also of concern is gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) - the type of diabetes that is first recognized during pregnancy and affects up to 15% of women worldwide.

The prevalence of childhood obesity has increased dramatically worldwide with potentially dire consequences to the health of children and to their future. Drs. Warren Lee of Singapore and Stuart Brink of the USA introduce the new American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines for newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes in children and adolescents, explaining how the evidence-based recommendations are essential for all physicians involved in the care of children.

The world’s current dietary salt consumption, more than twice the daily amount recommended, is rubbing the wound of declining public health. Increasing evidence suggests that a high salt intake may directly increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, obesity through soft drink consumption, and many other preventable diseases, including cancers. Restricting dietary salt is even more critical for high-risk populations, such as diabetes.

As a means of representing relevant issues to the diabetes community, Diabetes Voice will be providing a forum in which experts can examine controversial issues and provide an argument supporting their point of view. The low carbohydrate debate marks the first in a series of many more to come.
 

Professor Akhtar Hussain’s aim of studying anthropometric indicators of obesity was to evaluate the predictive ability of body mass index, waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, waist-to-height ratio and body fat percentages for the presence of cardiometabolic risks—namely type 2 diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia and the metabolic syndrome.

Type 1 diabetes is a complex and challenging disease due to its physiological, behavioural and psychosocial characteristics. Diabetes care and education is life-long and people who are affected must adapt as they age. In 2011, IDF launched the 3C Study – Coverage, Cost and Care of type 1 diabetes, in collaboration with the Chinese Diabetes Society, in order to understand better how this disease affects people living in the Beijing and Shantou areas.

In 2011, the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Diabetes Centre in Sydney, Australia, joined the voluntary network of International Diabetes Federation (IDF) Centres of Education. There are currently eight such centres providing excellent diabetes care and education services in Latin America, Asia (including the Indian sub-continent and China), Europe and now Australia. Central to the aims of the Centres of Education are efforts to increase regional capacity to respond to the diabetes epidemic.