25 February 2021

Diabetes is a complex and multi-faceted condition which affects all genders, all generations, all socio-economic groups, in rural and urban areas in Europe and around the globe. In Europe one in eleven adults live with diabetes and no population group is immune to it. In addition to causing major suffering, diabetes also carries a huge economic burden for societies (estimated 9% of total health expenditure in the EU in 2019).

How can we put people living with diabetes at the heart of European health policies and ensure a person-centred and outcome-based approach? What can we do collectively to bend the curve on the diabetes pandemic, improve the lives of EU citizens living with diabetes and reduce health inequalities as well as the societal and financial burden for all? How can EU policy actions address health challenges faced by close to 10% of its citizens?

To answer these and other questions, the MEP Interest Group on Diabetes, MEPs Mobilising for Diabetes, held a webinar marking the launch our Blueprint for Action on Diabetes in the European Union by 2030. This virtual event gathered a variety of diabetes stakeholders and policy makers from the EU Parliament, the Commission and WHO Europe. We discussed the priorities to be addressed in the next 10 years to collectively bend the curve on the diabetes crisis and focused on how we can foster EU policy measures and action around a series of recommendations and enablers:

Recommendations:

– Risk reduction (raising awareness and eradicating discrimination, developing health-enabling environments, supporting early action),

– Integrated care (strengthening primary care, promoting patient-centred care),

– Enabling access (ensuring access to diabetes care, increasing health literacy and leaving no one behind).

Enablers:

– Engagement with, and involvement of, people living with diabetes,

– Digitalisation and data,

– Research for actionable insights.

Dr. Marta Temido, Portugal’s Health Minister, also outlined in a video message the priorities of the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union in relation to health and diabetes. Dr. Temido stressed that diabetes is a major public health problem in the EU and that it is our duty to unite efforts to respond to it as we have done in the past months in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is why “initiatives like the Blueprint for Action on Diabetes in European Union by 2030 are welcome to empower our efforts to tackle diabetes, to elevate diabetes on the political agenda, and to foster policy measures and action through close collaboration with Institutions and Member States”, she said. Watch the full video below:

Our speakers in this event were:

Christel Schaldemose MEP, Member of the IMCO and AIDA committees and MMD Co-Chair

Dr. Niti Pall, Chair of IDF Europe

Cristian Bușoi MEP, Chair of the ITRE committee and MMD member

Ms. Cajsa Lindberg, former President of the Swedish Diabetes Association and Mentor of the IDF Europe’s Youth Group, YOURAH

Dr. Chantal Mathieu, Chair of the European Diabetes Forum

Dr. Jill Farrington, former Coordinator, Noncommunicable Diseases, WHO Regional Office for Europe

Mr. Tobias Wiesenthal, Head of Sector ‘Research and Innovation’ in DG CONNECT, European Commission

Marisa Matias MEP, Vice Chair of the GUE/NGL group in the European Parliament and MMD member

Prof. João Filipe Raposo, Clinical Director of APDP – Diabetes Portugal and President of the Portuguese Society of Diabetology

Sirpa Pietikäinen MEP, Member of the ECON and FEMM committees and MMD Co-Chair

Bastian Hauck, IDF Europe Board Member