St. Vincent Declaration

The St. Vincent Declaration is a set of goals for the medical care of people with diabetes mellitus published as the product of an international conference held in St. Vincent, Italy, on 10-12 October 1989. Representatives of government health departments and patients' organizations from all European countries met with diabetes experts under the aegis of the World Health Organization (WHO) Europe and the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) Europe. General goals and standards of diabetes care were agreed on, as well as a set of plans for improving care in various countries toward the goals.

Twenty years later it was stated in an editorial in the British Journal of Diabetes and Vascular Disease that 'despite the progress made following the St. Vincent Declaration and the UN Resolution, it is clear that in 2009 significant gaps still exist and urgent action is needed to stem this rising epidemic'.[1]

Diabetes related blindness

In 2006 it was reported that the St. Vincent Declaration target of reducing diabetes related blindness by one third appears to have been achieved in the Warmia and Mazury regions of Poland.[2]

References

  1. ^ Felton, Anne-Marie and Hall, Michael S. (2009), Diabetes - from St. Vincent to Glasgow, Have we progressed in 20 years ?, British Journal of Diabetes and Vascular Disease, 9(4), 142-44.
  2. ^ Bandurska-Stankiewicz, E. and Wiatr, D. (2006), Diabetic blindness significantly reduced in the Warmia and Mazury regions of Poland: Saint Vincent Declarations target achieved, British Journal of Ophthalmology, 16(5), 722-7

See also

Text of the St. Vincent Declaration [1]