More than 230 delegates from 25 countries in Sub Saharan Africa, leading global health experts, ministers of health from Niger, Guinea Conakry, Republic of Kenya, donors and national health authorities convened at the Diabetes Summit Africa.

WDF Chairman Prof. Pierre Lefèbvre accompanying Her Excellency Minister of Health Mdm.  Sangaré from Guinea-Conakry and Minister of Health, Mr Issa Lamine from Niger (far right).

They came together to discuss the growing prevalence of diabetes in the developing world, especially Africa, and discuss strategies for managing what is predicted to be the major health crisis of the 21st century.

“Our health services and interventions have focused on infectious diseases. Adequate emphasis has not been placed on non communicable diseases. This imposes a huge burden on the overstretched health services in this country. A lasting solution for diabetes is prevention and control within a national programme. The Ministry of Health is currently developing a comprehensive control programme for diabetes and other non communicable diseases. My Ministry will ensure that the programme receives the necessary resources, said Her Excellency Charity Kaluki Ngilu, Minister for Health, of the Republic of Kenya in her opening remarks.     

In 2007 diabetes is expected to result in 3.8 million deaths (or 6% of world mortality), the same figure as HIV/AIDS. Unless preventative measures are taken, 380 million people worldwide will have diabetes by 2025, with the largest increase occurring in developing countries. Now more than ever, there is a need to discuss diabetes in Africa.

Learning and bringing home lessons

The two-day summit held in Nairobi 29th and 30th of June 2007 was packed with lectures and panel discussions by leading experts within diabetes, access to care and representatives from several African diabetes projects supported by WDF. The summit was launched with a press briefing attended by 35 international, regional and local media participants. Several articles, TV and radio broadcasts featuring diabetes appeared in the local and international media following the summit, thus helping raise awareness of the problem. 
 
The Kenya Diabetes Management and Information Centre (DMI) in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, Kenya showcased their education programme for healthcare professionals and public awareness projects supported by WDF, to demonstrate how effective collaboration can work on a practical level.

The WDF has provided financial support to set up 42 clinics, 200 mini clinics and a large scale diabetes awareness programme where people can learn about diabetes prevention. The educational activities alone have already reached 600,000 people in Kenya.
 
Prof Martin Sillink, President of the International Diabetes Federation was one of the lecturers; “The Diabetes Summit in Kenya was the first major diabetes event in Africa since the adoption of the United Nations Resolution on Diabetes and the launch of the ‘Diabetes Declaration and Strategy for Africa’ in December 2006. The summit organised by the World Diabetes Foundation is of major significance, marking a milestone in our joint efforts to develop effective preventive strategies and sustainable solutions to address challenges posed by non communicable diseases and diabetes in particular”, he said.

Africa must increase focus on chronic diseases

“In African nations such as Kenya, the need is becoming ever-more urgent to focus public health initiatives on prevention of chronic diseases such as diabetes,” explains Dr David Okello, World Health Organization Country Representative for Kenya. “We are pleased to welcome key stakeholders not only from Africa, but across the globe to the Diabetes Summit, to discuss procedures for tackling chronic disease at the country level and ensure effective and sustainable approaches are taken.”

Importance of having regional summits

The developing nations account for seven of the ten countries worst affected by diabetes yet, governments, policy makers, public health authorities and multilateral donors are either unwilling to accept or are ignorant of the threat of diabetes.
 
In 2002, only 3.5% (1.53 million USD) of the total WHO budget of USD 43.6 million was spent on non-communicable diseases. “Yet treating diabetes in the poorest countries does not require huge resources or huge financial investment,” explains Dr Anil Kapur, Managing Director of the World Diabetes Foundation: “Better awareness, early diagnosis and basic effective treatment can largely prevent the costly complications of diabetes”.
 
Dr Anil Kapur explains the importance of these summits; “With these regional summits we hope to initiate a more proactive approach to reach out to funding bodies, policy makers, ministries of health, key influencers and the global media to share ideas on how to prioritise and implement diabetes prevention and care strategies that can evolve into sustainable national NCD programmes”.
 
According to the Ministry of Health In Kenya, it is estimated that the prevalence of diabetes is about 3.3% (1.2million people). This figure is projected to rise to 4.5% by 2025. The increase in diabetes is attributed to changing lifestyles and reduced physical activity.

Presentations

A selection of presentations from the Summit are available here

Photos

View photos from the Summit

List of delegates (pdf)

Press coverage

Press release

Read or listen to the media, covering the Summit