Diabetes and Tuberculosis (TB)
With 1.6 million People with TB and Diabetes the World Health Organisation has published advice under the heading ‘Invest for impact’. Diabetes is associated with about twice the risk of tuberculosis (TB) disease and a higher risk of multidrug-resistant TB. People with both TB and diabetes are twice as likely to die during TB treatment […]
Third of Type 1 Patients Insulin-Free With Stem Cells
Novel stem-cell transplant continues to show promise for achieving full insulin independence for individuals with type 1 diabetes. Trevor W. Reichman, MD, PhD, Surgical Director of Pancreas and Islet Cell Transplantation, Ajmera Transplant Center at the University of Toronto said: “We are hopeful that this first-of-its-kind research could be a gamechanger for the treatment of […]
Research News
UK – Children and young adults with down syndrome four times more likely to have diabetes. https://www.miragenews.com/children-and-young-adults-with-down-syndrome-867642 Trial finds that cell therapy slows kidney damage in people with type 2 diabetes. https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/health/university-of-galway-trial-finds-cell-therapy-slows-kidney-damage-in-people-with-type-2-diabetes-42180628.html US study shows mental health disparities observed in people with diabetes across Europe. https://www.ajmc.com/view/mental-health-disparities-observed-in-people-with-diabetes-across-europe Prevalence of prediabetes and diabetes vary by ethnicity among […]
Type One Breakthrough
In the USA, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Provention Bio’s immune therapy indicated to delay the onset of presently incurable type 1 diabetes (T1D). Teplizumab, an anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody, is the first approved therapy shown to delay the progression to stage 3 T1D for some people at high risk of developing the condition. […]
More News from Around the World: CGM on Prescription in UK
The Dexcom ONE real-time Continuous Glucose Monitoring (rt-CGM) System is now available to be prescribed across the United Kingdom. The decision follows new guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) which recommends adults with type 1 diabetes should be offered a choice of glucose sensor, children should be offered rt-CGM and […]
CWD – Type 1 Screening
The importance of screening for type 1 diabetes was the subject of a meeting held during the American Association for Diabetes Scientific Conference in New Orleans last month. Paediatric Endocrinologist Kimber Simmons MD, MS, talked about the stages of type 1 diabetes and the screening options available, and what resources families and people with diabetes […]
Research News
USA – Screening for diabetes earlier could reduce racial and ethnic disparities in diagnosis, study finds. https://www.phillyvoice.com/diabetes-screening-racial-ethnic-disparities-asian-hispanic-black-diagnosis-study USA – Investigators from the Pediatric Diabetes Center at Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone investigated outcomes disparities as they related to diabetes technology use among youth living with type 1 diabetes (T1D). https://www.ajmc.com/view/there-is-more-to-blame-than-tech-for-t1d-outcomes-disparities-investigators-argue Germany – Research suggests […]
Simple Solution to Malnutrition
Malayasian Member of Parliament, Dr Azman Ismail MP, has raised the issue of malnutrition and linked it to a rise in noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) claiming there is a simple solution. “This doesn’t require huge funds and you don’t need rocket science to go back to our traditional diets” he said when debating the Supply Bill […]
Call on Kenyan Government to Lower Insulin Cost
Key gaps in the affordability and availability of insulin in Kenya have been identified in a study conducted by the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH). PATH is active in around 70 counties, including Kenya, with a mission to advance health equity through innovation and partnerships. They say that the cost of insulin in […]
CGM Devices for Maltese Children
PDGN Co-Chair and President of the Maltese Diabetes Association (MDA), Chris Delicata, reports on the work by the Association working with Malta’s politicians to deliver a project to distribute Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) devices to children and adolescents under 16 years and living with type 1 diabetes as part of the island’s National Health Service. […]
Sudan – Impending Health Disaster Predicted
Strike action by doctors, that would be unprecedented in many western health care systems, is being carried out in sheer frustration at medicine shortages, lack of funding, insecurity and what has been described as an “impending health disaster”? The number of COVID-19 cases combined with existing challenges on the Sudanese health care system has gone […]
Half a Billion People with Diabetes and 90 percent Not Receiving Proper Care
A University of Michigan and Brigham and Women’s Hospital study has calculated that ninety per cent of people with diabetes living in low- and middle-income countries do not receive the kind of care that could make their lives healthier, longer and more productive. The US study, published in the journal Lancet Healthy Longevity, showed that […]
Tarantulas Could Offer a New Treatment for Type 2
Set aside your arachnophobia (fear of spiders) if you can, the mighty tarantula could be coming to the rescue of some people with type 2 diabetes. A team of researchers, led by Professor Nigel Irwin at Ulster University and funded by Diabetes UK, have found molecules in tarantula venom could offer a new treatment for […]
News From Around the Globe Continued: A Month Without Insulin
The difficulties obtaining insulin, testing strips and medicines are not unique to the Sudanese hospital we reported about in our last issue. The stock of injections for diabetes patients has been exhausted in the Landikotal District Hospital in the Khyber tribal district of Pakistan. Hospital sources reported in the local press have claimed many people […]
More News From Around The Globe: Rural Type 2 Awareness Campaign
Protecting the Asset that is You is a Type 2 awareness campaign aimed at farmers and their families in Northern Ireland. The campaign uses health messages and signposting pathways to appropriate services for people who live and work in rural areas, people who are often hard to reach and run a risk of missing opportunities […]
Research Corner
University of Exeter and Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust research revealed at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) 2020 on-line event, suggests screening could give two years’ extra type 2 diabetes alert. https://www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/9143/presentation/1514 The findings from a recent study by a University of Buffalo researcher and others could prove to […]
More News From Around The World: Canada
First Nation Children 25 Times More Likely to Have Type 2 A newly released study has found that children in First Nations communities are 25 times more likely to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes compared to other children in Manitoba. The study was conducted by the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy (MCHP) in partnership […]
Nigeria
Besides Covid-19 where cases approach 60,000 and over 1,000 deaths, Nigeria has a huge burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases. Covid statistics actually paint an impressive picture for a nation of 200 million people with a comparatively weak health system. The country is suffering from another health crisis that hardly came in the limelight. The […]
Kenya: Fresh Launch for Kenya’s Universal Health Coverage Programme
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe (pictured) has said the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) programme will be launched afresh to serve Kenyans better.UHC, whose pilot phase was launched in December 2018 by President Uhuru Kenyatta. It is intended to ensure all Kenyans have access to preventive, promotive, curative, rehabilitative and palliative health services at minimum financial […]
Zimbabwe: Nurses Behind Better NCD Management
Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) are estimated to account for 31% of total deaths, with diabetes, hypertension and asthma as the main killers in Zimbabwe. The country has been facing a number of challenges most notably in the health sector. Healthcare workers are overwhelmed and doctors, especially in rural areas, are scarce. Millions of Zimbabweans are disconnected […]
Africa News Special
High Blood Pressure and Diabetes top Covid Killers in Africa A World Health Organisation (WHO) analysis of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in 14 countries across Africa found that hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and asthma are the comorbidities most associated with Covid-19 deaths. In Kenya, around half of Covid-19 deaths were of people with NCDs while in […]
First Audit of FreeStyle Libre
The Association of British Clinical Diabetologists (ABCD) have conducted the first national (UK) audit of one of the increasing numbers of glucose monitoring devices. Studying Abbot’s FreeStyle Libre device they found from 10,000 users across 102 UK hospitals that the system improves control and patient awareness of low blood glucose levels. The report also concludes […]
Tech News
Help from AI Artificial Intelligence ‘could help identify future diabetes patients’. Scientists have developed a new technology that uses artificial intelligence to predict whether a patient will develop diabetes. The preliminary research, which is yet to be published, applies a method known as machine learning to assess the risk of a person developing the lifelong […]
Australia: Advocacy Success
CAPTION: PDGN Patron, Hon. Judi Moylan AO (glasses, centre left) with Professor Liz Davis on her immediate left and Professor Greg Johnson on the far left with participants at the launch of the Diabetes in Schools Program at St Peter’s Primary School Western Australia. Advocacy action by Parliamentarians and patient groups in Australia has brought […]
Health Care Disparity Evidence Grows
Appalling disparities in health care have been revealed in several recent studies that the Covid 19 pandemic has magnified. The ‘Center for American Progress (CAP)’ has pulled together research from across the USA showing that it is home to stark and persistent racial disparities in health coverage, chronic health conditions, mental health, and mortality. The […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
PDGN Patron, the Hon Judi Moylan OA reports from Australia on a number of wins with the Government.
The Government has approved funding of over AUS $9 million to rollout a program in schools for children with Type 1 diabetes alongside other announcements in the Australian Government Budget 2018/19 including AUS $125 million for heart and diabetes research. Judi is working as co-chair with Professor Paul Zimmet on the Implementation Reference Group who were […]
INSULIN RATIONING!
PDGN has been tracking the rise in insulin costs and alarming stories appearing in reputable publications about patients rationing their insulin and fears of future shortages. In the USA there is growing anger over the rising cost of insulin leading to some people with diabetes not taking it as directed. According to Reuters a survey […]
News In Brief
Latest statistics show dramatic variations across the UK, and less than half of those with diabetes achieve UK recommended treatment targets – URL: http://diabetestimes.co.uk/latest-national-diabetes-audit-results-published/ Diabetes has become one of America’s most expensive diseases – URL: http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/health-and-medicine/article130487694.html As the diabetes burden rises in India, experts call for a pan-India diabetic policy – URL: http://everylifecounts.ndtv.com/as-diabetesburden-rises-in-indiaexperts-call-for-pan-india-diabetic-policy-10579