National diabetes strategy is only the first, welcome step

06.07.2020 10:32

diabetesDE – German Diabetes Aid fundamentally welcomes the National Diabetes Strategy passed in the Bundestag on July 3, 2020. The eight key points contain a lot of necessary information, especially finally cross-departmental approaches to diabetes prevention with a focus on nutrition and exercise. “However, particularly effective preventative measures at the population level, such as reducing the sugar content in sweet drinks by 50 percent and advertising restrictions for products with children's optics, continue to be neglected,” says Nicole Mattig-Fabian, Managing Director of diabetesDE.

What should be highlighted positively, however, is the strengthening of the prevention and early detection of diabetes, the improvement and further development of medical curricula, the further development of cross-sector care and disease management programs, the expansion of diabetes surveillance and data use as well as diabetes research. The development of personalized therapy concepts in prevention and care is also welcome - this is what people with diabetes have been wanting for a long time.

“I very much welcome the fact that the National Diabetes Strategy provides for a further expansion of telemedicine in diabetes care. The need has become more than obvious in the last few months, when people with diabetes have not been able to attend their analog training and consultation sessions in practices. Diabetes is a prime example of the advantages of digitalization,” emphasizes Dr. med. Jens Kröger, CEO of diabetesDE, adds: “Ultimately, this National Diabetes Strategy is just the first step in the right direction, because so far it has been nothing more than a declaration of intent, a delegation of measures to the self-government and the states, it is not a binding one Draft law. This is a missed opportunity to actually stop the RKI's forecast of up to 12.4 million people with diabetes by 2040. Here, for example, with regard to simple nutritional labeling such as the Nutri-Score, we would have liked a clear call for a Europe-wide obligation, as formulated in the proposal from the Alliance 90/The Greens faction.”

The strategy lacked time horizons for when the proposed measures should be implemented and information on the specific financing of these measures.