23 May 2012
Scottish experts address Kuwait diabetes problem
The incoming Presidents - both of whom are Scottish - of the only two global diabetes organisations have addressed students and healthcare professionals in Kuwait as part of a pioneering education programme involving the University of Dundee and NHS Tayside.
Stephen Greene, Professor of Child & Adolescent Health at the University of Dundee, is President-Elect of the International Society for Paediatric and Adolescent Diabetes (ISPAD). Sir Michael Hirst is Global President-Elect of the International Diabetes Federation.
They were among the key speakers at the Discovery Course event, which introduces 140 new healthcare professionals in Kuwait to the Masters programme in Diabetes Care and Education.
The Masters programme is the first major educational programme being delivered as a result of agreements signed between the University of Dundee, NHS Tayside, Aridhia Informatics, and the Dasman Diabetes Institute and the Ministry of Health in Kuwait.
This is the third time the course has been run. There are already over 100 Masters students enrolled on the courses, working across healthcare services in Kuwait. A number of the current students presented their module workplace based projects demonstrating the impact the Masters programme is already making on healthcare practice in Kuwait.
Diabetes is a significant problem in Kuwait, where it has been estimated that up to 1 in 4 of the adult population suffers from the disease. This equates to almost 700,000 people with diabetes.
"There are many problems facing young people around the world who have developed diabetes," said Stephen Greene. "ISPAD can play an important role in alleviating the many difficulties that the children and teenagers and their families face on a day to day basis, and works to encourage the best service in their own countries for young people and their families with diabetes."
Sir Michael Hirst said "I am delighted to be able to participate in this exciting initiative which brings together two most eminent academic and research institutions in Dundee and Kuwait. Collaboration like this brings immense benefits to both institutions, and contributes to the improvement in the lives of those with diabetes, particularly in the Gulf areas where prevalence levels are very high."
Frank Baker, British Ambassador to Kuwait said, "The work done by the University of Dundee , NHS Tayside and Aridhia with the Dasman Institute truly reflects the special relationship between the United Kingdom and the State of Kuwait, working to tackle diabetes and other critical heath challenges."
The Scottish partners involved in the collaboration have world-renowned expertise in tackling the disease. Tayside is now internationally recognised as having arguably the best information and knowledge of a diabetes population anywhere in the world and the clinical network model developed in the region has consistently demonstrated improved outcomes for people with diabetes.
To support the students through their project the KHN Learning Zone has been launched as part of the Kuwait Health Network (KHN) informatics system. The Learning Zone provides the students with on-line educational support through the use of additional teaching material such as recorded lectures and discussion forums with their teachers.
For more information on the KHN learning Zone, see: https://e.health.org.kw/learning/.
NOTES TO EDITORS
About the University of Dundee
The University of Dundee has been hailed as a "world-leading centre" for research into diabetes and is home to the Dundee Diabetes Research Centre, which hosts over 25 research teams engaged in diabetes research, ranging from the study of single molecules to complex clinical studies. The University has a top-rated medical school with research expanding from "the cell to the clinic to the community", while the College of Life Sciences is home to some of the world's most cited scientists and home to 800 research staff from 60 different countries. See www.dundee.ac.uk for further details.
About NHS Tayside
NHS Tayside is responsible for meeting the health needs of nearly 397,000 people living in Tayside. They employ around 14,000 staff with an annual budget of more than £750 million which works out at around £2million spent on healthcare services every day.
NHS Tayside is internationally recognised as a centre of excellence in many areas of healthcare working closely with the University of Dundee.
About Aridhia Informatics
Aridhia Informatics was formed as a unique joint venture in early 2008 with the National Health Service in Tayside, Scotland, the University of Dundee and Sumerian as partners and shareholders. Aridhia now employs a team recruited from both industrial and academic backgrounds. This combination of clinical know how, academic excellence together with extensive industrial experience in high performance computing provides unique insights into new approaches to health care delivery. www.aridhia.com
For media enquiries contact:
Roddy Isles
Head, Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384910
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk
MOBILE: 07800 581902 |
