IDF Advocacy Newsletter - June 2015

IDF Advocacy Newsletter - June 2015

IDF call to action to G7 governments On the occasion of the G7 Summit that took place in Schloss Elmau (Germany) the 8-9 June, IDF has launched a call to action for G7 countries to develop and implement a series of cost-effective policy options aiming to improve the health outcomes of people with diabetes and prevent the onset of new type 2 diabetes cases. IDF has submitted this call to action to all prime ministers, ministers of finances and ministers of health of all G7 nations. In several cases, this letter has been delivered personally by national parliamentarians belonging to IDF’s Parliamentarians for Diabetes Global Network. Click here to learn more about this campaign and download the letters. In order to leverage our messages and involve a wider audience in this call to action, IDF is running a social media campaign on Twitter, where we are engaging with G7 political and key opinion leaders and requesting G7 governments to prioritise diabetes in their agenda. During the dates of the Summit, IDF network managed to put diabetes in the top 2 Twitter discussion points around the G7 Summit, despite diabetes not being among the G7 agenda items! Visit our Twitter channel to keep on promoting our messages and direct questions to G7 leaders. IDF side event to the World Health Assembly: IDF Framework for Action on Sugar and WDD soft launch In May 19, IDF held its side event to the 68th World Health Assembly (WHA) “Nourishing development: halting the diabetes epidemic through healthy eating”. The event focused on the clear links between nutrition and diabetes and was hosted by IDF CEO, Petra Wilson, and IDF President, Sir Michael Hirst. Several high level speakers participated in the discussion panel, including WHO’s Director of Nutrition for Health and Development, Dr Francesco Branca, and WHO’s Director for Management of NCDs, MD MPH Etienne Krug. On this occasion, IDF released its Framework for Action on Sugar, which calls on national governments to implement a series of specific policies to reduce sugar consumption and voicesIDF’s support for WHO’s conditional recommendation to reduce free sugars consumption to 5% of the daily caloric intake. Click here to access the event report and read more abour the discussion panel. The event also marked the soft launch of the World Diabetes Day (WDD) 2015 campaign, which remains focused on healthy eating as a key factor in the fight against diabetes. To reflect the reality of dealing with a chronic condition, WDD is now becoming a year-long campaign. The next campaign material to be released will be the WDD Guidebook at the end of June. The Guidebook will be the key tool for stakeholders to engaging in the campaign. It will contain key messages, calls to action and resources. This tool, in order to reflect the WDD year-long campaign, will be a live document and will be updated on a regular basis. Visit WDD website to watch WDD promotional video and for regular campaign updates. World Health Day 2016 on diabetes The World Health Day is a United Nations global awareness day aiming at drawing worldwide attention to a subject of major importance to global health. It is held every 7th April since 1950, to commemorate the founding of the World Health Organisation (WHO). We are delighted to announce you that the World Health Day 2016 will be dedicated to diabetes. This announcement was made public by Dr Etienne Krug, WHO Director of NCDs Prevention and Control, at IDF side event to WHA, last 19th of May. IDF is collaborating with WHO in outlining World Health Day 2016. We will keep you informed of any major development. 68th WHA The 68th WHA took place in Geneva, Switzerland, from May 18-26. Several NCD-related items were discussed during the week, including: outcomes from the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2); development of the core set of indicators for maternal, infant and young child nutrition; update on the Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity; follow-up from the 2014 UN Review and Assessment of NCDs; health in the post-2015 development agenda. Click here to access IDF 68th WHA report and learn more about the outcomes of the discussions. IDF Statements to WHA IDF has signed two of the statements that were read during the NCDs discussions at WHA plenary sessions. Click here to read the statement on the Outcome of the Second International Conference on Nutrition, delivered by the World Obesity Federation. Click here to read the NCD Alliance statement on the Update on the Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity. WHO Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity In March 2015 WHO’s Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity (ECHO) released its interim report, which highlights key areas in policy to address this growing problem. Click here to read the NCDA comments to the report. The ECHO Commission will consider all comments submitted by civil society organisations during its next meeting at the end of June. The final report is expected at the end of this year, and will inform Margaret Chan’s recommendations to the 69th WHA (May 2016). IDF supports Jamie Oliver’s petition on food education On March 29, Jamie Oliver and his Food Revolution Foundation launched a global petition requesting G20 governments to include food education in school curricula. IDF is supporting the petition through its online activities, as part of a global effort to demand immediate action to halt the alarming and rising figures of childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes cases among young people. This petition has been a great worldwide success and, by Food Revolution Day on May 15, it had already achieved more than 1 million signatures. You can still add your name to the petition by clicking here. International Diabetes Federation Chaussée de La Hulpe 166 1170 Brussels, Belgium info@idf.org | www.idf.org