Government plans National Diabetes Strategy

Strategy against widespread disease: „National Diabetes Strategy“:

04/01/2015

Around 6.7 million people in Germany suffer from diabetes. Every year, hundreds of thousands are added. Health politicians of the SPD and Union are now planning one „National Diabetes Strategy“, to fight against the widespread disease.

Contain the spread of widespread disease
With more education and better access to therapies, the black-and-red German government wants to stem the spread of the widespread disease diabetes. As the „Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung“ (FAZ), health politicians of Union and SPD plan one „National Diabetes Strategy“. According to a report by the news agency dpa, a comprehensive collection of disease data and more cooperation between the federal government and the federal states are part of the concept.

6.7 million Germans suffer from diabetes
According to the data, 6.7 million people in Germany suffer from the so-called „diabetes“. The number of those affected is growing rapidly in view of the aging population. Every year, 270,000 are to be added. The report states that treatment and other follow-up costs amount to tens of billions of dollars each year. The author of the concept, Dietrich Monstadt (CDU), told the FAZ that we need a concept that describes dedicated prevention strategies as well as early detection and care concepts, especially for strengthening the self-help of affected patients.

Enlightenment can „Do not start early enough“
The SPD health politician Karl Lauterbach announced: „We want to bring the National Diabetes Strategy 2015 together in the Bundestag“. Jens Spahn, health spokesman for the Union Group, warned: „A diabetes wave is rolling towards us.“ Therefore, one could with the Enlightenment „Do not start early enough“. Federal Health Minister Hermann Gröhe (CDU) had already announced in the fall, in the future on health and long-term care insurance about 510 million euros in the health prevention. In addition to diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, the risk factors of obesity, low activity and addiction are also in focus.

Taxes on fattening
About half of German citizens are overweight or even obese. Obesity and, above all, obesity are not only risk factors for diabetes, but also for hypertension, heart attack, stroke and cancer. Many health experts have warned for years that appeals to the population for a healthier lifestyle are not enough to prevent such diseases. In Germany, too, it is therefore repeatedly demanded that the legislator must become more active. A few months ago, for example, the German Alliance against Noncommunicable Diseases (NCD Alliance), an association of 16 medical societies and research organizations, called for the introduction of a sugar and fat tax on unhealthy foods. In countries like Mexico, France, Latvia, Finland or Hungary, there are already taxes on fatteners. (Ad)