Tech Demands Grow
CAPTION: The very latest tech was on display at the Advanced Technologies and Treatments for Diabetes (ATTD) event held in Madrid this February. With increasing numbers of people with diabetes using technological instruments and gadgets to treat their condition demand for wider access to them grows. JDRF UK has been looking into the use of […]
Remember the Other Pandemic
Acknowledgement – https://defeatdiabetes.org/ If every person with diabetes lived in the same country it would be the third most populated on the planet and the numbers continue to grow. It is also a killer. In Europe alone one person dies ever six seconds of a diabetes related condition. The focus is on the Corona virus […]
Research Corner
Number of people with diabetes in the USA – Latest. https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-09/uoi-srt091718.php Survey Reveals 2 in 3 People with Type 2 Diabetes have Cardiovascular Disease risk factors and/or have experienced a Cardiovascular Event. https://preview.tinyurl.com/yd3up22g Study into closed loop insulin delivery systems. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)31947-0/fulltext Misdiagnosis of diabetes type in patients over 30. https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-10/d-cot100318.php
Research Corner
Type 2 Diabetes complications and comorbidity in Sub-Saharan Africans https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(19)30162-2/fulltext People with type 1 diabetes have high-priority concerns that go beyond glucose control, including complex and mentally taxing treatment and weight gain, report researchers. https://www.medwirenews.com/diabetes/treatment-simplification-a-major-unmet-need-in-type-1-diabetes/16741108 A rare piece of research into Diabetes related stress asking the question: “Psychological Distress and Type 2 Diabetes: Does Age […]
PDGN News
Focus on PDGN People – Number Two, Our Patron, the Hon Judi Moylan AO GAICD. The Hon Judi Moylan AO GAICD, was elected in 1993 to the Federal Australian Parliament representing the Pearce constituency in Western Australia. She served until her retirement in 2013. Her portfolios included, Minister for Family Services and Minister for the […]
More Support for Role of Community Pharmacies
More research has been published showing how well-placed community pharmacists are to improve the early diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes and how this can reduce health service costs in the longer term. The research by the University of East Anglia (UEA) and Boots UK uses statistics from 2014 showing that in the UK there are […]
News From Around the World
Morocco The Moroccan Diabetes League celebrated World Diabetes Day in the city of LAAYOUN in southern Morocco. Advocacy Action: Start planning now for World Diabetes Day 14th November 2020. Malta Thanks to campaigning MPs, an €800,000 investment will see 2,000 Type 2 diabetes patients on the Island, who previously paid for their insulin, receive it free […]
USA News
Cost of Diabetes American Diabetes Association research estimates the total costs of diagnosed diabetes have risen to $327 billion in 2017 from $245 billion in 2012,. This and much more here: https://www.diabetes.org/resources/statistics/cost-diabetes?language_content_entity=en Amputations on the rise An article in the Philadelphia Enquirer reports on America’s epidemic of obesity and how diabetic amputations are again on […]
Asia News
According to findings from a pooled analysis of more than 1 million patients. the risk of death from diabetes is exceptionally high in Asia. The data suggests that adults in southeast Asian countries living with diabetes are nearly twice as likely to die of any cause over 13 years when compared with Asian adults without […]
Chinese Alcohol Concerns
Advice and information on alcohol consumption can confuse the public and it is hardly surprising when conflicting studies are published. Researchers in China have published a report into alcohol consumption. They conclude that heavy drinking increases the risk of type 2 diabetes in longrun. Other studies have found that moderate alcohol consumption can actually improve […]
Asia News: Where Singapore Leads?
Will Singapore become the first country in the world to ban advertising of pre-packaged drinks with high sugar content? There are clear indications that this is the intent of the small city state in South West Asia. Legislators are also planning to make nutrition labels mandatory for such drinks. In a population of 5.6 million […]
High costs of insulin still creating headlines
The rising cost of insulins has been well documented in the US where there are more than 30 million Americans with diabetes, a disease that costs the U.S. more than $327 billion per year. For people living with diabetes, including all individuals with Type 1 diabetes, access to insulin is literally a matter of life […]
PDGN News
The new President of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, Professor David Matthews, visited the PDGN stall at the 55th annual meeting of EASD in Barcelona this September. He met PDGN Co-Chair Sir Michael Hirst and Secretary General Adrian Sanders with EASD Managing Director and Chief Medical Officer Dr Monika Grusser. Sir Michael […]
Technology News
Roche Diabetes Care India launches ‘mySugr’ App & Accu-Chek Instant to help patients https://www.exchange4media.com/marketing-news/roche-diabetes-care-india-launches-mysugr-app-accu-chek-instant-to-help-patients-96482.html Dexcom Apple Watch upgrade directly monitors diabetes https://www.diabetes.co.uk/news/2019/jun/dexcom-upgrade-directly-monitors-diabetes-via-apple-watch-96330159.htm
Research Corner
Much of the research and studies make for grim reading with the implications for people and health care systems severe. All the more important to seek allies who can share and add force to your advocacy in order to seek improvements to prevention, encourage early diagnosis, and the best treatments. Canadian children not being diagnosed […]
PDGN News
Focus on PDGN People – Number One, Co_Chair Chris Delicata PDGN has three Co-Chairs; Sir Michael Hirst, John Bowis OBE and in this edition we focus on Chris J. Delicata. Chris Delicata is actively involved in advocating for the Diabetes cause in his home country and internationally. His eldest son was diagnosed with Type 1 […]
Watching Out for Diabetes!
National Health Service (NHS) England is planning to roll-out a device worn on the wrist to thousands of people who are considered to be at risk of developing type 2 diabetes. It is part of its Diabetes Prevention Programme (DPP), launched in 2016 in partnership with Public Health England (PHE) and the patient group organisation […]
Some Ideas for World Diabetes Day tried in Parliaments around the world.
● A Children’s lobby of Parliament – usually in association with a national diabetes organisation or JDRF if active in your country, where children with diabetes come to meet their elected representatives and tell them about their experience of living with diabetes. ● Testing Day for Parliament – usually in association with a national diabetes […]
Prevention – Saves Lives and Money
When multiple risk factors are tacked the risk of diabetes plummets by 75 per cent. That’s the conclusions of a study by a Chinese University Medical College. Healthy behaviours — such as physical activity, eating a balanced diet, and reducing alcohol intake — are well-established as key to type 2 diabetes prevention, but a new meta-analysis shows […]
News From Around The World
New Zealand – New Type 2 prevention campaign launched. https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/shows/2019/07/new-campaign-aims-to-curb-new-zealand-s-type-2-diabetes-problem.html How Goa’s digital approach to diabetes can improve universal healthcare https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/10/diabetes-in-india-digital-care USA – Type 2 amputations on the rise, a worrying report from the States. https://www.inquirer.com/health/amputation-increasing-diabetes-surgery-insulin-20190616.html Advocacy Action – what is the trend in your country. Can you ask your Government what the estimated cost […]
Diabetes Epidemic in Asia
A survey conducted by Sun Life Financial among nearly 4,000 residents aged 25 and above from Hong Kong, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines identified that more and more people from Asia are being diagnosed with the diabetes and fastest rate of growth was found in the Philippines. Out of a population of 100 million […]
Pharmacists Helping Type 2 Patients go drug free
In our last issue we reported on the role of pharmacists as partners in meeting the challenge of diabetes. The Pharmaceutical Journal reported last month that pharmacists can help patients with Type 2 diabetes adopt a low-carbohydrate diet and reduce their medicines load, but a policy document published by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and endorsed […]
Impact of Insulin Cost Rises
The cost of insulin nearly doubled between 2012 and 2016 leading to some US citizens with diabetes rationing their medicine to survive. With a vial of insulin costing around $300 in the United States, people prescribed with insulin for their diabetes have been hit hard with Hispanic, Asian and Black patients appearing to be the […]
New Focus and Future Strategy
CAPTION: Deputy Speaker of the Maltese Parliament, Claudette Buttigieg MP, with Secretary General Adrian Sanders, and Co-Chairs Sir Michael Hirst and Chris Delicata after launching PDGN’s New Focus and future Strategic Plan in Barcelona last month at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes annual event. PDGN has refined its vision and mission to […]
World Diabetes Day
World Diabetes Day (WDD) has been running annually on November 14 since 1991 and this year’s theme is ‘Protect the Family’. In 2006 WWD became an official United Nations Day, and the campaign reaches a global audience of over 1 billion people in more than 160 countries. WWD aims to draw attention to the issues […]
PDGN News
Our Patron the Hon Judi Moylan AO retired as Diabetes Australia’s National President and Chair of the Board at the end of last year although the Board has asked her to stay on as Government Affairs Adviser for the next 12 months. She has also been appointed to the National Health & Medical Research Council. “Arise Sir George” […]
Research Corner
Much of the research and studies make for grim reading with the implications for people and health care systems severe. All the more important to seek allies who can share and add force to your advocacy in order to seek improvements to prevention, encourage early diagnosis, and the best treatments. New study by Australian researchers […]
More News From Around The World
Morocco – PDGN Vice-president Mustafa Brahimi MP reports that the Moroccan Diabetes Fighting League is organising the 8th National Symposium on Diabetes and Nutrition, Diabetes Morocco 2019 at Ibn Tofail University in Kenitra, on July 5th and 6th. 2019. The event will be organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, the Moroccan Society of […]
India and South Asia Improved Outcomes
Roche and Wellthy Diagnostics presented at the recent Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association in San Francisco, compelling data of improved diabetes care outcomes in a South Asian population when patients followed a prescribed plan of medication and lifestyle modification in conjunction with a combination therapy of self-monitoring blood glucose device and a clinically […]
News From Australia
More support for children living with type 1 diabetes The Australian Government will invest $6 million to better support children living with diabetes, with the launch of a new program across Australian schools. The Type 1 Diabetes Management in Schools program will support around 6,000 children living with the condition by providing a training and […]
Diabetes Week
During the UK’s Diabetes Week in June, Diabetes UK arranged for 3 MPs to experience life with diabetes, from finger pricking to carb counting. The idea could be organised at any time to raise awareness of the issues faced by people with diabetes who make up a large section of every elected representative’s constituency. Advocacy […]
Are you making use of pharmacists?
Where there is an established network of Community pharmacies, such as in the UK, many peoples’ first contact with their health service is with their local chemist. Increasingly health care managers are trying to encourage people to go to their pharmacy first before seeing a doctor, or visiting a hospital. Pharmacists are well placed to […]
PDGN VICE-PRESIDENT JOINS WHO TAC
The Meeting of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) of the North Africa and Eastern Mediterranean Region EMRO was attended by PDGN Vice-President Mostafa Brahimi MP. It was held in April at the WHO headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, under the chairmanship of the Regional Director of the WHO., Dr Ahmed MANDHARI. Over […]
Children in Quebec are not diagnosed early enough
Children in Quebec are not diagnosed early enough with type 1 diabetes according to a study that reveals a rise in the number of children presenting a life-threatening complication at diagnosis known as Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). DKA is a serious problem that can occur in people with diabetes if their body starts to run out of […]
TO THE NEXT LEVEL
CAPTION: The Hon Silvio Grixti MP, Chair of the now Official Parliamentary Working Group for Diabetes. The Maltese Cross-Party Group for Diabetes has taken its status to the next level. Started by two interested MPs who attended a PDGN Forum six years ago, the Maltese All Party Diabetes Group has had a string of advocacy […]
Views of Indigenous Communities Sought
Thanks to the work of Sonia Sidhu MP and her fellow MPs the Federal Government of Canada is now establishing a national framework for diabetes they fought for and is asking Indigenous communities throughout the country to contribute through a survey and public consultations. People can do a survey, participate in a virtual circle, or […]
Research Corner
Diabetes and Back Pain https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-02-links-diabetes-pain.html Hope for patients with autoimmune disease https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-03-treatments-patients-autoimmune-disease.html Kidney Disease in Type 1 http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/early/2019/02/25/dc18-2062 Deprivation linked to poor blood glucose control https://www.diabetes.co.uk/news/2019/mar/deprivation-linked-to-poor-blood-glucose-control-in-type-1-diabetes-97428963.html More Reasons To Encourage Good Blood-Sugar Control https://www.endocrine.org/newsroom/2019/higher-risk-of-fracture-in-type Can You Help Us to Help You More? What’s happening in your area? Please share your news both successes and failures […]
Why Do South Asians Have Such High Rates Of Heart Disease
Research in the States is beginning to uncover why rates of heart disease are so high in this group. For the last seven years, a team of researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and Northwestern University has followed more than 900 South Asians in Chicago and the Bay Area. Their ongoing study, known […]
Tech Access In UK “Not Fit For Purpose”
The Association of British Clinical Diabetologists (ABCD) has published a document on access to new technologies for people with diabetes that concludes the current system for reviewing and launching new technology within a health economy is not fit for purpose. The publication, Increasing the Uptake of New Technologies in Diabetes: Recommended Actions, summarises the findings […]
PDGN News
Thanks to support from a sponsor a comprehensive review of PDGN is currently being undertaken with a likely completion date at the end of May. The review will guide PDGN’s future priorities and activities. If you have been contacted to take part, thank you for assisting this important project that is aimed to help deliver […]
Important Victory for CGM Drivers
Driving regulations for people with diabetes in the UK require those about to go behind the wheel to check their glucose levels with a finger prick blood reading no more than two hours before driving and then again on a break after every two hours of driving. Failure to do can invalidate their compulsory car […]
Diabetes Link to Mental Illness
There are increasing numbers of reports and studies into the links between diabetes and mental illness being published. For too long mental illness has been seen as a stigma but research has confirmed a clear connection between such illness and both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes across all age groups. Diagnosis of diabetes can […]
Importance of Understanding Diabetes Type
Little annoys people with diabetes more than references to one type of diabetes being confused with another. Grainne Flynne’s article is a good insight into the thinking of someone with the condition and the need not to discriminate between type one and type two. All types of diabetes are chronic, life threatening conditions and none […]
NEWS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE
Pakistan – Concerns that Pakistan’s health Care system might not be able to cope with the global epidemic of diabetes have been expressed by Dr Azok Fazal Pechuho, the country’s health minister. She says Pakistan should not only focus efforts on the prevention of diabetes, but also develop science based natural remedies that can help […]
Aussie Parties in a Bidding War
In February the Australian Federal Government announced that scientists searching for the elusive cure for type 1 diabetes will get an extra $54.5 million in funding to help the more than 120,000 children and adults in the country with the chronic condition. Almost immediately the opposition Labor Party pledged to give $ 50 million to […]
Welcome Tasmania
Congratulations to PDGN President Guy Barnett MP on helping bring a new cross-party group to life, this time in the Tasmanian Parliament. The group was set up last year and launched on the lawns of Parliament House in Hobart with plans to have a number of events to get the message of Diabetes out into […]
News on Sugar Taxes
In our last newsletter we reported on PDGN Vice-President Dr Mustafa Brahimi’s successful campaign to persuade the Moroccan Parliament to adopt a sugar tax. The issue is gaining ground around the world but support is by no means universal. In South East Asia the question is being asked whether a sugar tax will solve the […]
Lilly to Bring Rocketing Insulin Costs Down to Earth
US insulin manufacturer Eli Lilly has become the first to respond to the growing pressure from patients to cut the cost of insulin. The company announced in March that it would offer a cheaper version of its top selling insulin Humalog in the USA. The decision follows a decision by Congress to investigate the three […]
Global Health Inequalities Persist
The OECD together with the European Commission has published a report showing the persistence of health inequalities and the prevalence of obesity that is continuing to increase across the globe. The report contains nutrition profiles, which capture the status of nutrition at country, regional and global levels. The country profiles aggregate the very latest data […]
Technology Page
Good & Not So Good News From the UK A well-timed announcement improving public funded access for the Freestyle Libre sensor monitoring system was made by the UK Government on World Diabetes Day. Local health care bodies will decide who can be prescribed the device used by Prime Minister Theresa May and it is expected […]