Diabetic Eye Conditions – Advocacy in Motion

On June 26^th, during Day One of 2030 In Sight Live in Mexico City, IAPB will launch the Spanish language version of the joint Policy Brief on Diabetic Retinopathy authored together with the International Diabetes Federation (IDF). This is another milestone in a busy month that has focussed sector attention on the fastest growing cause of avoidable sight loss: Diabetic Retinopathy.

The global sector strategy, 2030 In Sight, clearly outlines the importance of engagement beyond the traditional eye health sector. In December 2022, IAPB convened a meeting at the IDF Congress in Lisbon: Eyes, Kidneys, Feet. All “forgotten” complications of diabetes and, in the case of kidneys and feet at least, not the actors with whom we traditionally engage. Yet, this broad engagement is essential as we effectively tackle avoidable sight loss.

In Geneva, on May 25^th, IAPB took the conversation one step further. We convened a breakfast meeting on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Health Minister’s Meeting: NCDs And the Link to Sight. With CHOGM Samoa 2024 just around the corner, this was an opportunity to embed eye health on the agenda of health ministers from across the Commonwealth. NCDs were our key – in the Pacific Islands Countries NCDs are the greatest burden on their health systems; within NCDs they are facing a tsunami of diabetes, with several countries seeing rates of prevalence above 30%. And of course, with diabetes comes eye problems. {insert link to previous post}

Dr Saia Piukala, Regional Director for WHO in the Western Pacific and the Honourable Health Minister of Samoa, Valasi Luapitofanua To’ogamaga Tafito Selesele set the scene by describing the impact of NCDs across the Pacific. But it was Dr Carole Poloso, Head of Ophthalmic Services in the Solomon Islands who put a human face to the challenge. She talked about Gloria – her 27 year old cousin – who died from complications with diabetes just a couple of months ago; and she talked about the overwhelming burden that diabetic eye diseases are placing on her clinic in Honiara. There’s diabetic retinopathy, of course, but also the impact that diabetes has on other eye conditions such as glaucoma and cataract. And then there’s the burden created by the lack of awareness that once you have diabetes you need to get your eyes tested.

Lack of awareness was again a central theme when we convened the China Sight Day Roundtable, co-chaired with Professor Wang Ningli of Tongren University this past week. Comprised of key opinion leaders from across the sector, the roundtable focussed-in on diabetic macular edema (DME). IAPB has been working with our partners from AbbVie to focus attention on this subset of diabetic retinopathy. As discussed at the roundtable, it can be hard to identify – and even harder to bring to the attention of the public. This became a focal point of brainstorming – how to better engage the public, particularly diabetes patients?

Over the past month, we’ve certainly engaged political leaders. To paraphrase Brandon Ah Tong from the Fred Hollows Foundation in his speech at the Commonwealth breakfast: ensuring better outcomes for patients with diabetes is about living and ensuring greater awareness about diabetic eye conditions is about living well. Our advocacy in motion aims to ensure that our policy makers attentions are captured to do just that.

To cap off a hectic month, these threads will be sewn together when we meet in Mexico City. Be sure to attend the session Diabetes & Eye Health: A call to Action at 3:45pm on June 26^th – as noted we’ll launch the Joint IAPB / IDF policy brief in Spanish, with one or two other surprises as well!