Diabetes prevention: global health policy and perspectives from the ground.
Type 2 diabetes and other noncommunicable diseases are a growing public health challenge globally. An estimated 285 million people, corresponding to 6.4% of the world's adult population, has diabetes, which is expected to reach 552 million by the International Diabetes Federation in 2030. A much larger segment of the world's population, approximating 79 million individuals in the USA alone, has prediabetes. Globally, a relatively small percentage of those with diabetes or prediabetes are diagnosed with the potential for developing chronic complications. To address this epidemic, governments, in concert with the private sector, need to set policies that promote healthy nutritional and agricultural policies, favor modifications in the environment that encourage greater physical activity and make prevention affordable for all citizens at high risk. The public health sector has the charge of translating evidence-based findings into practical, accessible and cost-effective programs and monitoring the process to continuously improve prevention initiatives. The clinical sector has the formidable challenge of screening and identifying those at high risk and referring them to accredited intervention programs. There is a need to explore additional cost-effective interventions that are customized to meet individual needs that can be offered at the community and clinical levels. Thus, all three sectors, government, public health and clinical, each have a critical role in this process and by working in a partnership, ought to create the necessary synergies essential for making substantial forays in the prevention of Type 2 diabetes.
NYU School of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology & Metabolism, 345 East 37th Street, Suite 313, New York, New York 10016, USA.
Michael
M
Bergman
Universite Catholique de Louvain, Department of Endocrinology & Diabetology, University Clinic Saint-Luc, Brussels, Belgium.
Martin
M
Buysschaert
Department for Prevention & Care of Diabetes, Medical Clinic III, University Clinic Carl Gustav Carus, Technical University Dresden, Fetscherstr.74, 01307 Dresden, Germany.
Peter Eh
PE
Schwarz
Division of Diabetes Translation, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, 4770 Buford Highway NE, Atlanta, GA 30341, USA.
Ann
A
Albright
Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Km Venkat
KV
Narayan
Global Health & Agriculture Policy, PepsiCo 700 Anderson Hill Rd, Purchase, NY 10577, USA.
Derek
D
Yach