Improving Outcomes for People with Diabetes: How Data, Access to Innovation and Rethinking Care Can Unleash Patient Power

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Improving Outcomes for People with Diabetes: How Data, Access to Innovation and Rethinking Care Can Unleash Patient Power

21.11.19

Europe’s diabetes pandemic emerged quickly enough to challenge our health services and gradually enough to give the impression that small changes would be enough to cope with the rising burden. Like antimicrobial resistance or climate change, the scale of the problem demands a complete rethink of how we manage diabetes. We cannot expect health systems designed to care for people with acute illnesses to meet the needs of large numbers of citizens living with longterm conditions such as diabetes. It’s time to reimagine how care is delivered.

Nathalie Moll joined the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) as Director...

The challenges laid out in the White Paper we are launching today require a concerted response. No single company, no single stakeholder nor country has all the answers. That is why EFPIA members have come together in the EFPIA Diabetes Platform.

Together, we aim to be an active partner in the fight against diabetes, improving the lives of everyone affected by the disease by optimising diabetes diagnosis, treatment and management, and focusing on delivering better outcomes.

While we do not underestimate the problem, we believe that across Europe the answers do exist – the challenge is to prioritise the right policy frameworks that allow those answers to be implemented. In this White Paper we have explored European and national solutions to improving diabetes care. Through research and stakeholder engagement, along with three roundtables to gather expert input, ideas and inspiration, we have taken a deep dive into diabetes.

The roundtables would not have been possible without the invaluable support of LIF Sweden, Primary Care Diabetes Europe and the vfa, in Sweden, Belgium and Germany, respectively. And none of this would have come together without the collaboration of the European Diabetes Forum and the many stakeholders from across Europe that contributed their time and insights. We are sincerely grateful to all who participated in these highly interactive events.

In listening and collaborating widely, we identified three key elements of the diabetes challenge: we will need to unlock the full potential of data, as well as empower patients, and rethink our health systems. For each of these elements, we have set out clear and actionable recommendations for the EU, France, Germany and the United Kingdom.

As we start a new cycle of European policymaking, we hope this Paper will offer concrete steps that can be taken at EU and Member State level to improve the lives of the growing numbers of citizens living with diabetes. It presents decision-makers with a challenge that is daunting but doable. I hope policymakers will give diabetes the attention it deserves. Anything less would be a missed opportunity.