“In Malta, over 30,000 people were diagnosed with diabetes; a figure which is expected to double by 2010,” Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Joe Cassar said yesterday. “This, as well as the high rate of childhood obesity and diabetes, is making the condition a health priority and a real challenge for us.”

Dr Cassar was speaking at the opening of the international diabetes foundation Europe conference entitled “Together we are Stronger – Addressing the Challenges in Diabetes” which is being held in Malta over the weekend.

The latest report published by the International Diabetes Federation Europe (IDF Europe) and the Federation for European Nurses in Diabetes (FEND), Dr Cassar pointed out, revealed significant and persistent inequalities in the prevention, screening and management of the disease across Europe.

This report provided a snapshot of current diabetes policies across the European Union, and was being considered an important tool for governments to assess their country’s performance in fighting the diabetes epidemic, reach the European benchmarks and encourage the sharing of good practice between member states, the Parliamentary Secretary for Health explained.

“The government’s wish is to have more specialised doctors and thereby improve the provision of diabetes prevention and care,” Dr Cassar said. Ultimately, the government’s responsibility in health was to provide the best quality of treatment and service while keeping the issue of sustainability in mind.

Furthermore, Dr Cassar promised the government’s support to the valuable work of IDF Europe and its partners and welcomed EU’s continuous action to ensure that people living with diabetes across Europe have equal access to high quality prevention, screening, treatment and care.

“The adoption of the European Parliament’s Written Declaration on Diabetes in 2006 was as a direct result of your members informing their national MEPs of the importance of addressing diabetes in a comprehensive and coordinated manner,” Dr Cassar told those present at the conference.

Subsequently, the Council of Ministers’ Conclusions on Type 2 Diabetes was published within the same year. This was followed up by the decision that United Nations member states adopt a UN Resolution on diabetes which was the first of its kind for a non-communicable disease and which brought over significant development thanks to the efforts of IDF and its members across the world, Dr Cassar said.

Another speaker during the opening session of the conference was Jack Delicata, a ten-year-old boy with Type 1 Diabetes who claimed a passion for football and expressed the wish for easier to use medication if a cure was not found.