Diabetes Federation to Tackle Epidemic

Montreal, Canada, 26 Oct-(ANA)-The International Diabetes Federation has stressed the need for increased political action to combat the disease.

At the end of a five-day congress in Montreal, Canada, delegates observed that not enough was being done to address the diabetes threat.

The participants, numbering about 12,000 delegates resolved to present a united front to meet the challenge posed by the disease.

An estimated 285 million are now living with diabetes, with the figure expected to reach nearly 440 million by 2030 if the current trend is not addressed

Professor Philip Home, Chair of the IDF Congress Programme Committee, reported that "feedback from participants at the World Diabetes Congress has been enthusiastically positive.

In particular, the sessions covering lifestyle issues such as the prevention of diabetes, the updates on new therapeutic trials, and a number of IDF initiatives - especially new clinical guidelines, proved very popular. But most of all, people remarked on what a lively networking meeting this has been." (ANA)

FA/ANA/26 October 2009---