Maria da Graça Carvalho met in her office at the European Parliament, a representative of Novo Nordisk. The purpose of the meeting was to provide information to Ms Carvalho on the European Diabetes Leadership Forum.
Diabetes is a rapidly growing health threat that poses an ever increasing challenge to European Societies. The International Diabetes Federation has calculated that 32 million people in Europe have diabetes, and that diabetes costs the EU countries an astonishing 77 billion EUR each year.
There is a growing recognition of the need to act to address the growing impact of chronic diseases such as diabetes. The current trio-presidency of Poland, Denmark and Cyprus have decided to give special attention to non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and the recent UN High-level meeting on NCDs also calls for urgent actions. The European Commission is also conducting a reflection process that looks into concrete solutions for tackling chronic diseases.
To support this process, Novo Nordisk, an innovative biopharmaceutical company and a world leader in treating diabetes, will be sponsoring the European Diabetes Leadership Forum that will take place on 25th and 26th April 2012 in Copenhagen.
The Forum will be held under the auspices of the Danish Presidency, and will be hosted by the Danish Diabetes Association and OECD. A wide stakeholder base covering politicians, government officials, health NGOs, healthcare professionals and business organisations will be represented at the Forum.