Hansard

I thank each and every member here today for their commitment to the cause of diabetes prevention and for sharing the International Diabetes Federation’s vision of living in a world without diabetes. I also welcome to the gallery a group of lead diabetes nurses who had a conference today, which I had the pleasure of speaking at.

I quote the International Diabetes Federation, which said that world diabetes day is a day that

“unites the global diabetes communities to produce a powerful voice for diabetes awareness and advocacy.”

The IDF’s theme for this year’s world diabetes day is healthy living and diabetes.

The day was created in 1991 by the IDF and the World Health Organization in response to growing concerns about the escalating health threat that diabetes poses, and it became an official United Nations day in 2007. The campaign draws attention to issues of paramount importance to the diabetes world and keeps diabetes firmly in the public spotlight.

We are facing a global epidemic: 382 million people live with diabetes, and a further 316 million are at high risk of developing the disease. The IDF diabetes atlas confirms that 80 per cent of people who have diabetes live in low and middle-income countries and that the socially disadvantaged are at the most risk.

By last year, diabetes caused more than 5 million deaths worldwide—every six seconds, a person dies from diabetes—and cost more than $600 billion in healthcare spending. Without co-ordination and systematic action to prevent diabetes, in less than 25 years almost 600 million people will be living with diabetes.

However, during the past two years, progress has been driving political change for diabetes. Following the 2011 United Nations declaration on non-communicable diseases, the World Health Assembly in May last year saw the unanimous adoption by member states of a global action plan. There have been other international initiatives as well.

A few short months ago, I strolled in the Melbourne summer sun from my hotel to the Victoria State Parliament House. I was due to speak to an unusual audience of almost 100 national champions for diabetes from as far afield as Russia, Ukraine, Nigeria and Canada. South Africa sent its first lady. All were elected members, all were advocates for diabetes, and all represented their own countries. It was a privilege to be asked by the International Diabetes Federation to represent Scotland at the first ever global forum of parliamentary champions for diabetes. The next forum will be in Canada in 2015, and I hope that Scotland will be represented again by members such as Nanette Milne, who convenes, along with me, the cross-party group on diabetes.

The conference concluded with the signing of the Melbourne declaration, which committed Parliaments across the globe to ensuring that diabetes is high on their political agenda. The declaration called on nations to put a higher emphasis on preventative work, early diagnosis, management and access to adequate care, and to ensure that treatment and medicines are available for all those who live with diabetes. The declaration was the brainchild of the IDF, whose president is Sir Michael Hirst, former member of Parliament and ex-chair of Diabetes UK.

I was proud to talk to the conference delegates not only about Scotland but about issues of international significance for diabetes, and I am proud to come from a nation that has a strong track record in innovation and discovery. After all, Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, and he was a Scot; James Watt created the steam engine, and he was a Scot; and Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, and he was a Scot, too. However, international collaboration is where real strides can be made. In 1922, Professor John Macleod from Aberdeen, working with two other outstanding scientists, Dr Banting and Charles Best, discovered insulin, and in 1923 Macleod and Banting won the Nobel prize for medicine, which was shared with Best.

There have also been more recent political developments here in Scotland, and strong, positive steps have been made in the care of people with diabetes, including the provision of insulin pumps to under-18s. However, the number of people with the condition is rising, and that will have a serious effect on Scotland’s immediate future. Beyond the grave social cost of the condition for individuals and families, there is the huge economic cost to the NHS in Scotland. That cost is estimated at £1 billion annually, and 80 per cent of that money goes on managing avoidable complications.

With the Melbourne declaration’s focus on diabetes prevention, the Scottish Government must have a focus on the condition that properly reflects the size of the problem. For example, more people in Scotland are living with diabetes than are living with coronary heart disease, and two and a half times more people have diabetes than all those with cancer combined. Every year in Scotland, about 1,900 people have emergency admissions for diabetic ketoacidosis, a critical, life-threatening condition that requires immediate medical attention, and more than 40 per cent of those admissions are of people under the age of 25. People with diabetes account for almost a fifth of hospital in-patients at any given time, and a person with diabetes can face a reduced life expectancy of up to 14 years in Scotland. Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness in working-age people and is a main contributor to kidney failure, amputations and cardiovascular disease, including heart attack and stroke. People with diabetes should be receiving their 15 healthcare essentials checks from the national health service, and previous action plans have been instrumental in taking forward that critical goal.

As I said, the theme of world diabetes day is healthy living and diabetes. In that respect, I recently met Michael Matheson, who will respond to the debate, with Jane-Claire Judson of Diabetes Scotland to talk about changes in Government procurement. For example, the new ferry contract could ensure that menus on ferries make clear the calorie, fat and carbohydrate content of all food that is served, which would be good for those dealing with diabetes as well as for those managing their weight.

We in Scotland have a great chance not only to raise the bar in healthcare but to contribute to scientific and medical understanding across the globe. World diabetes day is an international opportunity for diabetes to be put centre stage, with the focus on awareness, advocacy and best practice across the globe. We have to tackle this ticking time-bomb. I believe that all we need is, as Sir Walter Scott said,

“The will to do, the soul to dare”.