A Media Seminar organized by sanofi-aventis "One day living with Diabetes"

Diabetes is a rapidly growing metabolic disease which represents an ever-increasing proportion of national health care budgets throughout the world

Many Type 2 diabetes patients are not diagnosed or do not have their blood glucose under control, leaving them at an increased risk of developing diabetes-related complications.

Insulin suffers from physician and patient misperceptions, which leads to the delayed use of insulin.

Dubai, 22 February 2007. "Daily life for people with Diabetes, and diabetes complications control, can be greatly improved if effective modern treatment strategies are used, and ongoing support is provided". That was the main message from a media seminar held on Wednesday February 21st 2007 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, prior to a major symposium on the treatment of diabetes "Developing actions for better Outcomes in Diabetes care - Devoted". The scope of the media seminar entitled "One day living with Diabetes", was to provide an insight into the developments in the understanding of diabetes, and to present evolution in treatment strategies for the disease. How the disease influences the daily life of patients was also addressed during the meeting.

The prevalence of adult diabetes is projected to rise markedly in both developed and developing countries. Diabetes is now considered by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an "epidemic", and represents a huge burden for societies worldwide.

Thus, the WHO and the IDF (International Diabetes Federation) estimate that the number of diabetic patients in the world is currently between 194 and 246 million, and that this figure should rise to between 333 and 380 million individuals by 2025 1,2,3.

Key regional and international speakers participated in the Diabetes Media Seminar: Dr Madani (Head of Emirates Diabetes Society); Dr Khatib (Regional advisor for Non-communicable Diseases WHO-EMR (Egypt)); Dr Zahiri - Head of the Diabetes Patient Association (Jordan); Prof. Bolli - Department of Internal Medicine, Endocrinology and Metabolism University of Perugia (Italy); Prof. Azar - former president of the Endocrinology Society (Lebanon)

Diabetes Mellitus disease

Diabetes mellitus (diabetes) is the term used to describe a chronic disease caused by inherited and/or acquired deficiency in production of insulin by the pancreas, or by the ineffectiveness of the insulin produced. Diabetes mellitus is characterized by abnormally high concentrations of glucose in the blood. The WHO criterion for diagnosis of diabetes mellitus is a level of fasting plasma glucose of 7.0 mmol/L (1,26 g/L)4

Diabetes treatments are aimed at lowering the glucose in the blood, in order to delay the appearance of complications. Insulins are given as a substitute (Type 1) or a supplement (Type 2) to natural insulin secretion.

A key goal of diabetes treatment is to prevent complications because, over time, diabetes can damage the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys, and nerves, although the person may not know damage is taking place. It's important to diagnose and treat diabetes early, because it can cause damage even before it makes someone feel ill.

The European Diabetes Policy Group (EDPG)5 and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE), recommend that people with diabetes achieve an HbA1C of under 6.5% for optimal diabetes control.6 The American Diabetes Association recommends that people with diabetes achieve an HbA1C under 7%, although more stringent glycaemic goals (i.e. a normal HbA1C, under 6%) may further reduce complications at the cost of increased risk of hypoglycaemia.7

Diabetes prevalence in some countries of the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East Region (EMME) is among the highest in the world (9.4% in 2007). This vast region extends from Pakistan in the east to Morocco in the west, and the population is a mosaic of several ethnic groups. The age distribution pattern of the population is pyramidal with about 50% of the population below the age of 20 years.

Six of the countries of the region - United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Oman - have had studies performed showing their current diabetes prevalence to be among the world's 10 highest, and a similar situation applies for the IGT (impaired glucose tolerance = pre-diabetes) prevalence in these countries. As with many other countries with high diabetes prevalence, the onset of type 2 diabetes tends to occur at a relatively young age.

According to the IDF (International Diabetes Federation), the number of people aged 20 to 79 years with diabetes in the EMME region will increase from 24,5 million  in 2007 to 44,5 million in 2025. Moreover, the number of people with impaired glucose tolerance (pre-diabetes) will increase from 22,4 million to 38,6 million during the same period.

Devoted initiative "Developing actions for better Outcomes in Diabetes care"

The Devoted initiative has mobilized key medical thought leaders and stakeholders to improve the care management of diabetes in the Middle East Region. A group of 70 participants from Gulf countries, Iran, Jordan, Kazakhstan KSA, Lebanon from various groups of disease management (Endocrinologists, Diabetologists, Nurses, Nutritionists,...) and local decision makers (access players, Governments and private representatives), as well as Pharmaceutical and Therapeutic committee and Nurses & Patient association representatives have gathered together in Dubai.

Devoted is a unique opportunity to pool different experiences and opinions from countries of the Middle East Region, and learn from these to identify concrete actions to be implemented on a country by country basis, thus contributing to the improvement of diabetes care in the Middle East region.

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ABOUT SANOFI-AVENTIS
Sanofi-aventis is one of the world leaders in the pharmaceutical industry, ranking number one in Europe. Backed by a world-class R&D organisation, sanofi-aventis is developing leading positions in seven major therapeutic areas: cardiovascular, thrombosis, oncology, metabolic diseases, central nervous system, internal medicine and vaccines. Sanofi-aventis is listed in Paris (EURONEXT: SAN) and in New York (NYSE: SNY).

© Press Release 2007