At the moment there are 1400 organizations and societies in Germany, all striving to improve the plight of people with diabetes. At last we have succeeded in forming an organization, diabetesDE, within which all can work together. DiabetesDE will commence January 1, 2009. Diabetes-Parents-Journal’s editor-in-chief, Professor Thomas Danne, explains here what diabetesDE is all about, and what it aims to achieve.

Many parents are involved in voluntary work like that of ‘Diabetes Bolinus’, the Hannover-based parent initiative for diabetic children and adolescents; or maybe they are online with Diabetes-Kids.de; or participate in the National Support Programme for Young Diabetics (BFJD), an initiative of the patient organization, the German Diabetes Association (DDB). Diabetologists have gained much in recent years from organizations such as these. However, in view of the rising prevalence of type 1 diabetes, especially in children, as well as the type 2 diabetes epidemic, we still have a lot to do.  

The American model
Take, for example, America and the United Kingdom: The American Diabetes Association (ADA) is one and the same organization for the doctors, the researchers, the consultants, and the patients. The ADA convenes the largest annual scientific diabetes congress in the world, and has managed to attain some very important political goals such as the ‘Safe at School’ programme, which has improved the situation for diabetic school children in the United States. The ADA’s call centre attracts over 350 000 calls per year. England’s ‘DiabetesUK’ also enjoys political clout.

It is of no surprise that the two most influencial diabetes studies are the product of these two countries—USA’s DCCT for type 1 diabetes and Britain’s UKPDS for type 2 diabetes.

In Germany, we have the German Diabetes Union (DDU), an umbrella organization which, until now, has been unable to achieve the power of a large national association. For many years, we have recognized the need to combine all our national groups, like in Britain and the USA. Only a large and united organization can generate enough political and social power to attain meaningful goals.

To this end, on October 13 in Frankfurt, ‘diabetesDE’ (Diabetes Deutschland) was finally set up and the initial contract signed, to begin January 1, 2009. The official announcement of its formation was made on World Diabetes Day.  

Based in Berlin
The formation of diabetesDE will strengthen the German diabetes scene. The mainstays of the new organization are the German Diabetes Society (DDG; approx. 8000 members) and the German Professions for Diabetes Consulting and Training (VDBD; approx. 3000 members). As well as doctors, consultants and scientists, the new organization will also include patients. Amongst the many founding members are Gabriele Kohlos of the BFJD, and the well-known politician, Rudolf Dressler.

Publishers Kirchheim & Co, the issuers of the nationwide Diabetes Journal, will be diabetesDE’s first media partner. The membership rate is rising by the day, and we are convinced that the headquarters—right next to the German Ministry of Health—will soon be the main centre for all matters of diabetology across the country.

Together we are stronger
The aim is to gather all the branches of diabetology together and to coordinate them in such a way as to most effectively implement diabetes prevention and optimal treatment measures. Matters of professional policy, however, will remain in the hands of the individual professional organizations.

Organizations such as the DDB, that have as yet not been directly involved in diabetesDE, are invited to participate in the form of generating constructive dialogue towards the general benefit of diabetology.

Patients’ matters of importance will be represented within diabetesDE by vice president Michaela Berger, who may already be known to most conscientious parents as the inexhaustible organizer of World Diabetes Day in Berlin. She herself, along with others in her family, has type 1 diabetes. She therefore knows what she is talking about in this area.

diabetesDE is there for all
In order to add clout to the organization, the DDG and the VDBD are combining their efforts and responsibilities within diabetesDE. They will share the areas of further training and research. Thus, diabetesDE will benefit from the vast exerience and expertise contained in both these groups. Consolidation teams will be responsible for combining and coordinating the areas of work within both these groups.

Heads of departments within diabetesDE will actively seek dialogue with each other in order to consolidate state and federal initiatives. Opinion leaders will continue to form the hub of diabetesDE: Anyone who wants to participate is welcome to become actively involved.

DiabetesDE offers a historical opportunity to link up many organizations. We therefore hope that our many participants will actively contribute—only then will diabetesDE succeed in bringing the strengths of many groups together to one location. We look forward to the constructive cooperation between all those who, directly or indirectly, are involved in diabetes under the motto: ‘Knowledge is Power’.

Professor Thomas Danne
Editor-in-Chief
Diabetes-Parents-Journal