We have the evidence, we need to act to improve diabetes care

Abstract

The recent United Nations (UN) Resolution on diabetes sets a precedent by recognising a non-communicable disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), as a serious epidemic requiring urgent steps to improve management and prevent disease development. There is now a wealth of evidence that management of diabetes can be substantially improved by strategies of intensive glycaemic control, and these data must not be ignored. This article reviews this emerging evidence, including results of long-term intervention showing that durable glycaemic control in T2DM is possible. Urgent steps must be taken globally to intensify diabetes treatment as well as to develop rationale to prevent new cases. It is essential that all members of society are made acutely aware of the impending threat that the T2DM epidemic poses to society and that action is taken to control it without delay.