A two day National Non Communicable Disease Summit with a theme “Strengthening policies for Diabetes Care” is being organized on June 7-8th 2013 in New Delhi. Confederation of Indian Industry and Eli Lilly and Company have come together to create this national platform to explore some innovative approaches to combat growing incidence of Diabetes in the country. This unique initiative is supported by the National programme for Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke (NPCDCS), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR).
Currently India has over 61 million diabetic patients today as against 50.8 million last year, an increase of over 12 per cent. Estimates put that by 2030, India’s Diabetes burden will cross 100 million, as against 87 million estimated earlier. The international Diabetes Federation’s (IDF) fifth diabetes atlas says that India’s Diabetes prevalence in the age-group of 20-79 is 9.2 per cent and at that rate India is only second to China in terms of incidence of Diabetes. In 2012, Diabetes caused 983,000 deaths in India and that way the largest contributor of mortality.
The summit is intended to supplement and complement the governmental programs in Diabetes prevention and management through the NPCDCS programme. “Governmental delivery systems at the states and centre, alone will not be able to combat the growing incidence of Diabetes in the country thus there is a need of a facile ecosystem to address the present and future challenges posed by Diabetes in country.
Summit is going to be inaugurated by Honorable minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Shri. Abu Hasem Khan Choudhary on June 7th in Delhi. Summit is expected to be attended by the Senior Ministry of health officials including Secretary Health and Director General Health services , leading Diabetes experts , members of the scientific committee consisting of eminent scientists, senior leaders of industries, representatives from International and national development agencies and academicians and researchers engaged in the field of Diabetes management. Senior State level government officers from many states implementing the NPCDCS programme would also be joining the two day summit. Leading national and international speakers in the field of Diabetes care and management will be attending the two day summit.
A white paper will be released during the summit which encapsulates some of the best practices and the suggestions from a diverse range of experts engaged in the public health from various parts of the country. White paper which would be first of its kind on NCDs includes the suggestions received from the five state round table consultations with multi stakeholder group organized at state capitals of Rajasthan, West Bengal, Kerala, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh. Recommendations of the National white paper are also intended to strengthen the existing national policies and programme around diabetes management.
One of the important objectives of the joint initiative will be to explore the possibilities of public private partnerships (PPP) and involvement of industries to complement the national initiatives on Non communicable disease with a focus on Diabetes care.