Europe will increasingly be confronted with diseases brought about by modern lifestyles. This will also bring with it ever increasing costs of treatment for the various forms of diseases. Among them, there is an alarming rise in cases of diabetes.
Among chronic diseases, diabetes is today the most widespread. In Europe, 33 million people already live with diabetes; in Slovenia, there are more than 100,000 people with the disease. Over the next twenty years, the number will rise to 50 million. Diabetes is a disease that greatly reduces the quality of life and already accounts for 10% of all healthcare spending.
To a large extent, we can protect ourselves against diabetes by living a healthy lifestyle. This means eating less fatty foods, more fruits and vegetables, daily physical activity, balancing work and leisure time, a life without cigarettes and limiting alcohol consumption. It is very important to detect the disease early on, informing patients on how to best manage it and what lifestyle changes are needed. We can do a lot ourselves in the area of prevention, because of information available online today. Patient associations in close cooperation with experts can be another important aid in raising awareness. Despite all of the information and prevention, many patients who are already on insulin or tablets, still hold careless attitudes towards their lifestyles. Diabetes “doesn’t hurt”, but it is one of the mains sources of heart attacks, blindness, amputations, etc.
Against this background, the European Parliament expects the European Commission and the Council of the European Union to prepare a strategy for the comprehensive management of diabetes. We will hear both parties’ views during the March session in Strasbourg. Policy is responsible for establishing the law and budgetary frameworks that will not only provide prevention and treatment resources, but also for drug development, discovery of the disease, and transfer of best practices among Member States.
Indeed, success in managing diabetes needs to combine the efforts of policy, the professionals and a disciplined attitude towards their health from every individual.
