EU says urgent action needed to tackle diabetes

The European Union today said urgent action was needed to curb the growing incidence of diabetes, one of the major causes of death in the 25-nation bloc.

EU health ministers, meeting in Luxembourg, said there was a need for increased diabetes monitoring, better exchange of information on diabetes mortality and promotion of healthy lifestyles.

They asked the EU member states to implement plans to tackle diabetes and to conduct research on the risk factors of the disease.

“Prevention has to be improved. In the future there will be more registration of all relevant data at national level which we will use to tackle the disease,” said Health Minister Maria Rauch-Kallat of Austria, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency.

Diabetes is one of the leading causes of death in the EU, with more than 25 million people affected by the chronic disease which affects the cardiovascular system and can lead to stroke, kidney failure, blindness or amputation.