ALBANIA
The Albanian Diabetes Association hosts the III Post Graduated Course on Diabetes Complications
The Albanian Diabetes Association hosted the III Post Graduated Course on Diabetes and its Complications in the capital Tirana 29–31 March. The Course, organized by the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD), gathered more than 15 well-known lecturers, 150 local physicians and more than 60 international participants.
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| Florian Toti, president of the Albaniand diabetes association and speakers | III Post Graduated course particpants – family photo |
The Association’s training programme for healthcare providers is ongoing, with participants including general practitioners, pharmacists and nurses studying a variety of issues around improvements in diabetes treatment and self-monitoring.
Screening for retinopathy campaign launched by the Albanian Diabetes Association
In one month, the Association performed screening in more than 250 people.
The Albanian Diabetes Association also started the year by organizing a diabetes retinopathy screening campaign for people living with diabetes. The screening aimed to indetify this complication and raise awareness of how to prevent vision loss.
CROATIA
Croatian Diabetes Association organized their first Diabetes awareness week of the year
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| Healthcare professionals measuring blood sugar levels to croatian citizens |
The Croatian Diabetes Association (HSDU) celebrated Diabetes Awareness between 25 February and 1 March 2019. Throughout the week, citizens measured their blood glucose levels, blood pressure and body mass index (BMI, a calculation based on a person’s height and weight).
Each day, medical experts were available for visitors and provided information on diabetes and its complications, nutrition and new technologies for treatment.
Read their last version hereThe HSDU has also published the its magazine Diabetes Sweet Life’, which contains educational and informative content to raise awareness on diabetes and prevent complications. It is free and published bi-monthly.
Hello, hello with the Croatian Diabetes Association info line
The Croatian Diabetes Association (HSDU)carries out with the ‘Hello, hello’ info line to support people living with diabetes, family members and friends, and other interested people.
Via this special phone line, which is active every Wednesday, users can talk to experts from various fields: family doctors, diuabetologists, pediatricians, neurologists, psychologists, lawyers, social workers and nutritionists, among others.
HSDU introduced the initiative at the beginning of 2018 and it will continue to run throughout the current year. Details of the schedule and names of the experts attending the phones calls are available be on this website.
CYPRUS
The Cyprus Diabetic Association train secondary-school teachers to assist students living with diabetes
The Cyprus Diabetic Association organized a seminar to train teachers on how to assist students living with diabetes. The seminar, which took place at the secondary school in Aradippou on 7 March, was organized under the auspices of IDF’s KiDS (Children and Diabetes at School) framework.
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Andreas Theofanous, headmaster and member of the Cyprus Diabetic Association’s Larnaca committee, conducted the seminar, in which more than 20 school teachers participated.
PORTUGAL
APDP Diabetes Portugal co-organized the Health Literacy International Conference
The Diabetes Portugal Association (APDP) organized the “Health Literacy International Conference” on 16 January in Lisbon. More than 500 people participated in the Conference, which gathered experts in health literacy, and was co-organized by the NOVA National School of Public Health (ENSP-NOVA) and APDP, with support from WHO.
The first Portuguese health literacy project for the prevention and control of diabetes was launched during the event. The WHO-supoported ‘Health literacy promotion for prevention and control of diabetes’ is a partnership between ENSP-NOVA, APDP and Portuguese Healthy Cities Network.
This APDP presentation was preceded by a two-day workshop, held by ENSP-NOVA, with suport from WHO’s Global Coordination Mechanism on NCDs and WHO Europe.
Diabetes is among Portugal’s main health priorities due to the high disease burden its and associated costs. Portugal’s national and prevention policies are incorporated into various targeted plans. Learn more about theses plans through IDF Europe Policy puzzle.
Portugal’s The Heart of Diabetes Congress to address the link between diabetes and cardiovascular diseases
People with diabetes have a two-fold risk from cardiovascular disease (CVD), the leading cause of death in Portugal. This was the motivation behind APDP’s second Heart of Diabetes Congress in Porto on 22–23 March.
More than 200 participants, including professionals in endocrinology, cardiology, internal medicine, and general and family medicine adressed the relationship between diabetes and CVDs and their complications.
The ways in which CVD affects people with diabetes, its influence on the quality of life of those affected and their caregivers, and the choice of optimum treatments were some of the issues discussed during the meeting. CVD and its complications are economically costly for the national health service. For this reason, participating experts suggested the Portuguese government include measures such a improved control of diabetes, cholesterol levels and lipids in general, as well as blood pressure, to better address CVD risk factors.
“In an apparent decline in the mortality curve for cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes play a key role. It is necessary to diagnose diabetes early and begin treating people with pre-diabetes values,” said José Manuel Boavida, APDP president and IDF Europe Board member.
IDF recently developed and published a multi-country study called Taking Diabetes to Heart. Based on IDF’s Global Report on diabetes and Cardiovascular Diseases, which includes recommendations to reduce the burden of CVD among people with diabetes and the general population, the study aimed to define the actions required to promote knowledge and awareness of CVD among people living with type 2 diabetes.
15th Congress of the Portuguese Society of Diabetology
The Diabetes Portugal Association (APDP) participated in the 15th Diabetes Congress of the Portuguese Society of Diabetology, which took place in Vilamoura on 8–10 March.
APDP coordinated some of the 100 scientific sessions taking in place in this congress, which counted on the participation of more than 1400 healthcare professionals.
See the full programme here
TÜRKIYE
The Turkish Diabetes Foundation organized the 55th National Diabetes Metabolism and Nutritional Disease Congress
The Turkish Diabetes Foundation (TURKDIAB) organized the 55th National Diabetes Congress together with the Turkish Diabetes Association. The gathering, which took place on 23–27 April in Bafra, brought together physicians, diabetes nurses and dieticians from various specialties.
This congress is considered the main scientific programme in the area of endocrinology in Türkiye. Known for their enriching content, the National Diabetes Nursing Symposium and Diabetes Dietitians’ Symposium were also held within the scope of the Congress. Click here to learn more
Diabetes Working Groups Workshops (DWGW)
During the national Congress, the Turkish Diabetes Foundation organized the Diabetes Working Groups Workshops. In total, six working groups focused on key diabetes topics, including insulin, diabetes technologies, insulin resistance, inflammation and pre-diabetes, oral anti-diabetic and GLP analogues, cardio-metabolic syndrome, and the diabetic foot.
The purpose of the working groups is to discuss the latest scientific research and provide a yearly update of reports based on these studies. These updated reports are published by the Turkish Diabetes Foundation and serve as guidelines for endocrinologists.
Diabetes in Asia Study Group (DASG) Scientific Congress
The 7th Meeting of Diabetes in Asia Study Group (DASG) also took place in Brafra on the same dates. The DASG meeting offered insights into the most recent diabetes-related research and findings in Asia. The participants were able to join both the DASG and the 55th National Diabetes Metabolism and Nutritional Diseases Congress.
The Turkish Diabetes Foundation launches the National Diabetes Education Cascade Programme
The Turkish Diabetes Foundation launched the National Diabetes Education Cascade Programme on 2 March in Ankara.
The programme was developed with the Ministry of Heath and WHO in Türkiye. To implement the three-year programme, 21 cities around Türkiye were chosen to provide education for 120,000 people living with diabetes.
During the launch, representatives from the Ankara City Hall and Ministry of Health and other stakeholders met to explain the programme, its materials and objectives.
As a next step, the programme’s city coordinators will train family health educators, who support healthcare professionals — mainly nurses working in primary care. The family health educators allocated to this programme will be trained as diabetes educators in their region and will be responsible for patient education.
The programme, which will berolled out in multiple languages, will also reach around 6000 Syrian refugees in seven centres around Türkiye.
Press Conference
The programme was presented to the national press on 11 March in Ankara. Representatives of the Turkish government took part in a press conference, alongside WHO Türkiye and the Turkish Diabetes Foundation, which explained the objectives and the desired results of the programme.
