Johnson & Johnson Diabetes Care Companies (JJDCC) recently hosted its second Middle East & Africa Diabetes Summit. This gathering brought together some of the leading international and regional endocrinologists and opinion leaders to discuss the latest innovations in diabetes management and their clinical implications.
The summit also featured sessions on strengthening the relationship and improving communication between patients and health care professionals for better diabetes self-management.
“Over the last 20 years there have been significant advances in diabetes care in Saudi Arabia, from medicine and technology, to diet management,” said Dr. Bassam Saleh bin Abbas, professor of pediatrics and pediatric endocrinology at College of Medicine, Al-Faisal University and King Saud University.
“While eating habits are hard to change, we have seen a major improvement in terms of relatively simple things like portion control, which has an important impact on insulin therapy.
“However, I believe there is still a need to concentrate on communication and education for patients to help them self-manage their diabetes.”
“I am excited by the innovation in diabetes management technology, but we must improve the basics, such as regular blood glucose monitoring, to fully reap the benefits of these new advances,” he added.
With one in 11 people living with diabetes worldwide, the disease is one of the largest global health emergencies of the 21st century.
In Saudi Arabia, one in six people live with diabetes with a total of 3.5 million residents diagnosed, and this number is expected to reach more than 7 million by 2040.
Tamer Abbas, general manager — Middle East, Africa and Turkey at Johnson & Johnson Diabetes Care Companies, said employees of the Johnson & Johnson family of companies work with partners in health care to touch the lives of over a billion people every day, throughout the world.
He added: “At Johnson & Johnson Diabetes Care Companies, our efforts are focused on patient-centered diabetes care. We create an integrated diabetes lifecycle management strategy spanning prevention, diagnosis and management.
“And this can only be done by building a strong and long-term partnership with governmental authorities, HCPs, pharmacists and nurses. We call this the Triangle of Care, where we always place patients at the center of everything we do.”

Source: Arab News