On the Centenary of the Discovery of Insulin, 10 years after the first European Parliament Motion for Resolution on diabetes, let’s stop ignoring the 170,000 children and the 32 million adults living with the disease in the European Union (EU) and the millions more on their way to developing it. Let’s re-design health systems, which build on the effective prevention and management of diabetes and other chronic diseases, to guarantee their own resilience, improve EU citizens’ quality of life and reduce inequalities.

The situation is urgent and getting worse. Lacking or ineffective research and policy action over many decades has resulted in an ever-increasing number of European citizens from all ages and walks of life living with diabetes and other chronic conditions and developing life-altering complications. Not only does this result in poor quality of life for many of the people living with these conditions but it also jeopardises the health and well-being of future generations.

To a greater extent than for any other NCD, diabetes prevention, management and care touch on all aspects of a national health system, making it a marker of quality, effectiveness, performance and resilience. Effective prevention and management of diabetes will keep users away from the healthcare system, lower costs, improve resource utilisation and contribute to health systems’ digitalisation, thereby shoring up the resilience of national healthcare systems. It will also improve citizens’ quality of life and reduce inequalities. It will benefit not just PwD and those at risk of diabetes but also all people living with, or at risk of, other NCDs and conditions.

To achieve impact on diabetes across Europe, we need stronger, strategic leadership from the EU, with an ambitious Diabetes Plan accompanied by a Diabetes Mission, with clear and fully coordinated milestones, targets and responsibilities, accompanying and leveraging the myriad excellent EU initiatives such as the Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and the European Health Data Space, and working in close collaboration with Member States and other stakeholders.