One of WDF’s largest projects to date wrapped up recently with a review meeting in Beijing – and a call to do more.
25 September 2015 Gwendolyn Carleton
On 17 September, more than 100 high-level officials, medical professionals, journalists and diabetes patients gathered in Beijing for the review meeting of the National Health Education on Diabetes Project.
It was a fitting turnout for one of the biggest projects implemented by the World Diabetes Foundation to date. WDF12-688 has educated the residents of six Chinese provinces about how to prevent diabetes and live healthy lives. Over the last three years, the project’s partners – the Chinese Centre for Health Education (CCHE) and local health education institutions - have worked to increase diabetes awareness and ensure that accurate information is disseminated to as many people as possible.
To achieve this, they have trained 2,140 local health educators, sensitised 2,000 government leaders and educated more than 400,000 people with diabetes. The project has also trained 180 journalists on issues related to diabetes prevention and care, and developed a guide book for media reporting on these issues.
The review of the project, which is now wrapping up its last activities, was arranged by the Chinese Centre for Health Education (CCHE) and the National Disease Prevention and Control Bureau (NDPCB), both sub-branches of the Chinese Ministry of Health. Participants included WDF Managing Director Anders Dejgaard and WDF Programme Coordinator Mads Loftager Mundt.
“The diabetes epidemic in China has now reached a level where it may be named the epicentre of diabetes,” said Anders Dejgaard, in his opening statement. “More than 100 million people have developed diabetes in China, while it is believed that 500 million people are at pre-stages to diabetes and therefore at high risk. In light of these numbers, it is imperative that a comprehensive and nation-wide action is taken to prevent that these 500 million develop diabetes.”
With an estimated 70% of all diabetics in China still undiagnosed, he added, “a joint action must be taken to ensure that the effort of this project does not end now but is continued moving forward.”
WDF has supported a total of 17 projects in China since 2002, of which 10 are still ongoing. WDF is currently in discussions with CCHE and NDPCB on how a potential continuation of the cooperation might be designed.