The UAE – University has launched a multidisciplinary diabetes education course which will establish the first professionally certified and recognised diabetes educators in the UAE.

The course is established in the framework of a non-for-profit partnership between Johnson & Johnson Corporate Citizenship Trust - Middle East branch (JJCCT), the Emirates Diabetes Society (EDS) and sanofi-aventis’ social responsibility programme.

It is carried out in collaboration with the Diabetes Care Continuum (DCC) Ministry of Health and Dubai Health Authority.

“Diabetes is a top priority health concern in the UAE,” said Dr Ali Bin Shakar, director general of the Ministry. “We have developed a comprehensive long term plan to reduce rates of diabetes in the country. This initiative complements our efforts in strengthening the capacity of our healthcare professionals in preventing and managing diabetes.”

“As a chronic lifelong disease with varied acute and chronic complications, its treatment, unlike any other acute illness, is not just a matter of taking pills or injections but it’s first and foremost about education and awareness,” added Dr Abdulrazzaq Al Madani, chairman of the Emirates Diabetes Society and of the DCC.

“Patients and their families who know how to deal with diabetes are able to develop healthy habits and prevent long term complications.”

A considerable amount of time needs to be spent in patient education so that the patient can actively participate in daily self-care to maintain good metabolic control.

Unfortunately, due to their clinical pre-occupation with diagnosis and treatment of diabetes and its associated disorders, physicians do not spend adequate time to educate their patients. Hence future diabetes educators will play a major role in filling this void.

“Education is not just a part of diabetes treatment; it is the treatment. The key objective of diabetes education is to change the behaviour of people and promote self-management,” said Dr Mohamed Khalek, director of the Juvenile Diabetes Education Centre.

Diabetes educators will offer patient and family support, explain to and engage the patient and the family with the required lifestyle and treatment options, diet management, ways to exercise, monitor progress to the point where the patient and the family feel comfortable and confident to manage independently whilst maintaining regular medical checks.

The training course, which will be held from April until March 2010, targets over 80 healthcare professionals including nurses, dieticians and health educators from both the public and private registered healthcare institutions across the UAE.

The trainees will be selected by their own institutions based on their direct involvement in the management of diabetic patients.

Wim Boogaerts, chairman of JJCCT Middle East added: “One of our key strategies is to build healthcare capacity within the local communities where it is needed. With this initiative and together with our partners, we hope to help these children and their families in living a healthy and happy life with diabetes."

“As a socially responsible player, sanofi-aventis is committed to actions that help enhance the wellbeing and standard of living of our society as a whole,” said Jean-Marc Voissier, general manager of sanofi-aventis pharmaceuticals Gulf.

“Considering the alarming state of diabetes prevalence in the UAE, we have dedicated massive efforts to provide the best patient care in order to increase awareness, medical practice development, and patient education,” he added. – TradeArabia News Service