Dear friends and colleagues,
Welcome to Berlin and to Diabetes Education Study Group Conference:
THERAPEUTIC EDUCATION – EMPOWERING PEOPLE TO PREVENT DIABETES AND ITS COMPLICATIONS
All over the world we are facing a continuous raise of Diabetes prevalence. Diabetes and its
complications are a serious threat to the survival and well-being of an increasing number of people.
Once a disease of old age, Diabetes is now common among adults of all ages and is beginning to affect
adolescents and even children. The good news is that Diabetes and its complications are preventable.
Health care providers caring for chronic patients have long tried to reduce the gap between the
spectacular advancement of medical knowledge and treatment options, and the way this progress is
translated into everyday disease’s management, by adoptingattitudes and actions that demonstrate
interest in the patients’ efforts, and that address their concerns, skills and values. In the last decades
research has shown that Therapeutic Patients Education can be effective in promoting long-lasting
behavioural changes, better quality of life, and significant metabolic and medical improvements. A
great role in these outcomes could and might play the empowerment of people with diabetes and
their family as an important partner of our common efforts for a better diabetes management.
This conference, dedicated to the importance of diabetic patients’ empowerment, will gather experts
of different fields, coming from all over the world, and represents an occasion where different
educational efforts will be presented and discussed, hopefully to reach a greater international
integration.
I am particularly grateful and proud to welcome all of you in our annual conference, hoping that will
serve as a constant prove of our efforts to broaden our impact aiming to a better and more patients-
centered care, for diabetic patients worldwide.
I wish you a fruitful and stimulating conference, and an active participation at EASD Congress.
Yours sincerely
Prof. Florian Toti
President of Diabetes Education Study Group – EASD Study Group
On behalf of the Organizing Committee
