Workshop for the Development of the next National Diabetes and Obesity Action Plan, 2024-2030

The main objective of the workshop was to assess achievement under the National Diabetes Strategy 2016-2022, the challenges and future plan

June 14, 2023 - 06:08

Workshop for the Development of the next National Diabetes and Obesity Action Plan, 2024-2030

Source: Ministry of Public Health

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

The Ministry of Public Health (MOPH), Health Promotion and Non-Communicable Diseases Department and the National Diabetes Committee, held a Consultation Workshop as part of the development of the next National Diabetes and Obesity Action Plan, 2024-2030, which will form part of the Ministry of Public Health, National Health Strategy under NHS3 (2024-2030), as reported on the Ministry of Health website.

The main focus of the workshop was to develop the overall goals, the mission, and the vision of the next phase of the national diabetes strategy. In addition, the agenda featured contribution from two international speakers, Prof. Stephen Colagiuri, Professor of Metabolic Health, Central Clinical School Faculty of Medicine & Health, University of Sydney, and Dr. Yusuf Alper Sonmez from Ankara Guven Hospital, Turkey, who shared their experiences, highlighting success and challenges, of the national work on diabetes and obesity taking place in their countries.

The workshop brought together physicians, nurses, educators, and dieticians from health care facilities across Qatar (primary, secondary and tertiary care), academicians with interest in diabetes and obesity from local academic institutions and professionals from the Ministry of Public Health.

In his opening speech Prof. Abdul-Badi Abou-Samra, Co-Chair of the National Diabetes Committee, commented “Developing the next National Action Plan for Diabetes and Obesity provides a valuable opportunity to evaluate the current vision, mission, goals as outlined in the National Diabetes Strategy, 2016-2022, and approaches to diabetes services and care; consider the role of government at all levels, as well as other stakeholders; evaluate whether current efforts and investments align with identified needs; maximise the efficient use of healthcare resources; articulate a vision for preventing, detecting, and managing diabetes and obesity as well as diabetes and obesity research efforts.

Prof. Abou-Samra continued by highlighting that “During the past few years, obesity appeared as a main driver of the diabetes epidemic globally and particularly in Qatar; prevention and management of obesity can prevent diabetes and even reverse early diabetes. Therefore, an action plan on diabetes must include an action plan on obesity to avoid redundancy of public effort.

Dr. Kholoud Al Mutawa, Co-Chair of the National Diabetes Committee, added “We welcome the diverse perspectives, experience, and knowledge of all diabetes and obesity stakeholders. The purpose of this consultation workshop was to seek feedback from our stakeholders on what the vision, mission, and goals of the National Action Plan for Diabetes and Obesity, 2024-2030, should be -going forward- and what are the areas of action we should take to achieve our goals in order to inform the draft National Action Plan for Diabetes and Obesity, 2024-2030”.

Dr. Kholoud Al Mutawa continued by saying “The launching of the STEPwise Survey on the same day of the workshop is important for this action plan on diabetes and obesity. The STEPwise survey will provide key information on current prevalence of diabetes, obesity and risk factors which are key component of the strategy”.