Waiting for the National Diabetes Strategy

    

    

Doctors newspaper online, 11.09.2019

    

        
        
        

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Impatient trade associations

Germany lags behind in the fight against diabetes, warn diabetes associations. They call on the federal government to finally tackle the National Diabetes Strategy.

By Thomas Hommel

Stop Diabetes: The Federal Government has written the fight against the common disease on the flags.

© kikkerdirk / Fotolia

BERLIN. Trade associations have called for the rapid implementation of the National Diabetes Strategy (NDS).

In its coalition agreement, the Union and the SPD announced a framework plan nearly two years ago, said the president of the German Diabetes Association (DDG), Professor Monika Kellerer, on Wednesday.

Since then, about one million people are newly diagnosed with diabetes. "But the NDS has still not passed, let alone implemented."

"Nothing has happened"

"It's halfway to legislature, but nothing has happened in terms of diabetes strategy," Dr. Jens Kröger, CEO of diabetesDE – German Diabetes Aid.

Germany lags behind. Many EU countries have already launched a diabetes strategy or an action plan.

There are currently more than seven million people with diabetes in Germany. According to forecasts by the German Diabetes Center and the Robert Koch Institute, the number could rise to more than twelve million by 2040.

Back in April, the DDG, together with other associations, presented key points of a framework plan for diabetes calling for guidelines for more prevention, better care and uniform monitoring.

The implementation of the diabetes strategy was also on the agenda of the Bundestag before the summer break. Because of differences in the coalition, the decision had been postponed.

"In the final moves"

The SPD political spokeswoman, Dr. Sabine Dittmar, said on Wednesday, the participating policy specialists in the coalition would be "in the end", which concerns the presentation of a diabetes strategy. "I assume that we will hopefully come to a good result this week." According to this, the project could be discussed by Parliament.

Nutrition issues must be clarified in diabetes prevention, said Dittmar. "Otherwise, we continue to work on the symptoms and less the causes."

Hamburg's Health Senator Cornelia Prüfer-Storcks (SPD) emphasized that a diabetes strategy must include not only a higher taxation of sugar-containing products, but also the introduction of a nutritional label on food packaging. For this purpose, the Nutri score, because it is scientifically sound and practicable.

It therefore remains "incomprehensible" why nutrition minister Julia Klöckner (CDU) does not move forward here more determined. In a survey of medical professional associations, medical societies and the consumer organization foodwatch, a majority of Germans recently described the Nutri score as striking and easy to understand.

Demand for subject-specific care increases

DDG President Kellerer emphasized that with the increasing number of diabetic patients, there is also a growing demand for specialist care. He was hardly covered. For example, the number of hospital beds focusing on "endocrinology and diabetology" has almost halved over the past two decades.

In addition, there are only eight clinical chairs in diabetology. That was an "untenable condition" because the required medical offspring did not succeed.

Kellerer appealed to the Länder to influence the universities more strongly. Targeted conveyor systems could be used to build up pressure.

We've updated this post on 11.09.2019 at 16:03.

Please also see the comment:
Diabetes – (pendant) strategy

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