Speaker Abstract

The Diabetes Council of Canada (DCC): Co-ordinating National Diabetes Strategies

N.W. Rodger, MD, Chair, DCC, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 4V9.

The Diabetes Council of Canada (DCC), was formed in 1995 to replace the Canadian Diabetes Advisory Board. DCC is mandated to promote the health of Canadians by influencing and co-ordinating strategies that address diabetes mellitus as a serious, costly and growing public health issue and concern. DCC meets regularly to allow 13 members (representing Health Canada, the Medical Research Council, the pharmaceutical and health charity sectors, aboriginal organizations and the lay community) to constructively interact, thus achieving Target # 1 of the Declaration of the Americas on Diabetes (1996). Activities have included an assessment with the MRC of research needs, contribution to the formation of Prevent Blindness Canada, consultation with the Cardio-Cerebrovascular Research Advisory Council, support of the Health Canada Aboriginal Diabetes Initiative, and, working with the Laboratory Centres for Disease Control, sponsorship of a multisectoral organization to co-ordinate and standardize diabetes databases throughout the country (the National Diabetes Surveillance System). A DCC Process Task Group will ensure wide national input on the recently announced (Feb. 1999) federally supported Canadian Diabetes Prevention and Control Strategy.