Global Changing Diabetes Leadership Forum: Youth Report from Anja Nielson

Anja Nielsen is a 22 year-old Danish student of Molecular Biomedicine at the University of Copenhagen. A long time diabetes advocate, Anja was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 14, in June 1999. Anja considers herself lucky to live with diabetes in Denmark, which provides easy access to free healthcare. Since January 2003 Anja has been a member of the Youth Council of the Danish Diabetes Association. Her areas of responsibility have been media and cooperation with Youth Councils in Sweden and Norway. Currently, she serves as the Vice President of the Youth Council. Anja is also a member of the Novo Nordisk Youth Panel and is an IDF Youth Ambassador. She is especially concerned with making it easier for everyone to lead a healthy lifestyle, as well as improving the psychological well-being and quality of life of those living with chronic diseases such as diabetes.

Here is her report from Novo Nordisk’s Global Changing Diabetes Leadership Forum.

On March 12-14, 160 delegates from 18 countries gathered in New York City to discuss the future of diabetes. A variety of different stakeholders were present, including industry, government officials, media, patient organizations and people with diabetes. When attending such meetings, I always wonder what the outcome will be. It’s great to put a lot of clever people with extensive networks in the same room and all agree that diabetes is a big problem.

But where do we go from there? The problem and urgency of the issue have been identified, now should be the time to implement some concrete initiatives for action.

Bill Clinton’s speech, as well as a Socratic Dialogue involving 12 panelists, provided a framework and overview of problems and the future we would like to see for diabetes. Then it was time to come up with ideas for solutions. The participants were grouped according to countries to determine which issues should have the highest priority and therefore be addressed first. Then actions and barriers to those actions were identified. For the group representing Denmark and Sweden, it was quickly decided that focusing on secondary prevention – that is, prevention of long term complications in those already diagnosed with diabetes – would have the greatest impact. This may be achieved through a greater focus on quality assurance and quality cycles in the care of patients. Also, education of general physicians caring for people with diabetes should be enhanced.

Dan Jørgensen, Member of the European Parliament, stressed the importance of working together with other interest groups to make a greater impact on politicians. When considering diabetes prevention, the goal is a healthier population overall. Therefore, it does make a lot of sense to collaborate with other organizations, working towards the same target.

The last day of the meeting was concentrated around sharing commitments for changing diabetes. The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and Novo Nordisk committed to publishing documents that will complement each other. IDF will continue updating the Diabetes Atlas, which documents the problem of diabetes worldwide. Novo Nordisk will start publishing an annual Diabetes Barometer, which states the state of diabetes in countries all over the world. Is there a national diabetes plan? Is the plan followed up by political action and resources? Is it working? Are we breaking the curve of increasing incidence of people with diabetes? Novo Nordisk also acknowledges the need for transparency, measurability and driving change through being an example.

In Australia, an Obesity Declaration has been made. The mission is to reverse the rates of obesity and overweight, since Australia ranks high as being one of the fattest nations of the world. The goal is to prevent the rise in obesity by 2010 and reduce the number of obese and overweight children by 50% in 2015. This is being done by engaging key stakeholders because the current numbers regarding obesity and overweight in Australia are a cause for alarm and needs urgent action.

Martin Salkow, a 23 year old South African living with type 1 diabetes, made commitments on behalf of youth and as an IDF Youth Ambassador. We as young people have unique skills to contribute with, as young people are much more likely to listen to other young people than to the older generation. We can make changes because we have the passion it takes.

As a person living with diabetes who is very passionate about improving the lives of people with diabetes, looking back on the Leadership Forum gives me mixed feelings. I saw lots of commitment and passion but I would like to see some action. The example of the Obesity Declaration from Australia and the idea of a Diabetes Barometer from Novo Nordisk seem great, I look forward to following the progress of these initiatives and the ideas suggested for implementation back in Denmark.

For more information about the Forum, click here.

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