Activists call for action against diabetes in Europe

The furore surrounding diabetes has increased once more, with a member of the European Parliament calling for action against a ‘pandemic’ in Europe . The disease is thought to affect 25 million citizens in the EU, but still faces healthcare under funding despite being a rival killer to AIDS.
The scale of the problem is likely to become far worse, due to increasing levels of obesity and a sedentary population. The IDF (International Diabetes Federation) predict that by 2025 diabetes levels will be up 16 per cent. The politicia, a Conservative who chairs the European Parliament’s Diabetes Working Group, highlighted the problem.
He also claimed that the budget provided for EU research was too small: 80 million euros for a four-year period. Diabetes was said to have killed 2.9 million people worldwide, in comparison with 3 million killed by AIDS.
Another expert, the chair of the Federation of European Nurses in Diabetes, claimed that unless the EU acted immediately, the member states would face huge healthcare costs. Once again, the focus should be on prevention, awareness and education .