ISPAD Durban 2008 - Presidential Words of Wisdom

As the President of ISPAD and on behalf of the ISPAD Steering Committee, Advisory Council and membership, we would like to invite you to our upcoming Durban annual scientific meetings.

This is our second annual meeting on the African continent during which time ISPAD has grown from the International Study Group on Diabetes (ISGD) to be the premier pediatric and adolescent diabetes society in the world. Our members are active clinicians as well as researchers and educators and we hope to have more than 800 in attendance this coming August.

ISPAD and its members partner with IDF and other regional and national societies to help improve care, psychosocial function and reduce the acute as well as chronic complications of diabetes in children and adolescents. Our meetings promote interaction and dialog about such efforts and particularly hope to foster provocative discussions about controversial aspects of pediatric and adolescent care.
What are the differences and similarities in different parts of the world?
How might we learn from successes and failures of strategies and benefit from our experiences?
How do the pharmaceutical industry and diabetes supply firms interact with the pediatric and adolescent diabetes world?
What do we do about the rising obesity epidemic and its impact on the metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes in children and its associated lipid, cardiovascular and endocrine disorders?
What can be done to improve glucose control and improve the quality of life of the children and adolescents whose diabetes care is supervised in our offices, clinics and hospitals?

ISPAD will continue to organize and promote special pediatric and adolescent ISPAD Science schools for future researchers as well as for health care professionals working in the field with mentoring by many of our active ISPAD members.
The two key ISPAD awards, the ISPAD Prize and the ISPAD Lestradet Education Award are presented each year and this will continue in Durban to honor superb efforts by our members. Nominations are currently being accepted by the Secretary-General.
The ISPAD annual Business Meeting will take place in Durban during the Annual Scientific Meeting and will provide an opportunity to update members on ISPAD ongoing programs especially the revamped International PostGraduate Educational Ambassador program (with appointed Ambassadors for Asia, Africa, Latin America, North Africa/Middle East and Eastern Europe) and an update on efforts following the first United Nations approved World Diabetes Day with its international focus on children with diabetes.
 Please join us in Durban.

Dr Stuart Brink



It is with great pleasure that we invite you at attend the 34th Annual Meeting of ISPAD in Durban, South Africa.  Once more you would have the opportunity of meeting colleagues, friends and members of the ISPAD family to discuss the latest developments in scientific research and clinical practice.  There is an added significance associated with the 2008 meeting.

In 2006, the United Nations recognized the role of diabetes in modern society by adopting a resolution on Diabetes.  This year the IDF raised further the profile of children by making the theme of the 2007 World Diabetes Day “The Year of the Child and Adolescent with Diabetes”.

The epidemic of type 1 and type 2 diabetes that is being documented in the western world is also being experienced in developing countries.  ISPAD has taken the visionary and courageous step of holding the next ISPAD annual meeting in a developing country for the first time.  It is now the time to recognize the universal occurrence of diabetes in children and adolescents.  It is time to convert the gains made in the political into improving and advancing the care of children with diabetes throughout the world.  For colleagues from developed countries, this would be the usual high quality scientific meeting. For colleagues in developing countries, this is an unusual opportunity to improve the care and scientific endeavors thereby ADVANCING DIABETES CARE.

Durban, with its unique mix of African, Asian and European culture forms the ideal backdrop to a meeting that promises a different and enriching experience in the African soil of the South.

The Local Organizing Committee looks forward to hosting you in Durban, South Africa.



Dr Kuben Pillay
Pediatrician and Pediatric Endocrinologist
ISPAD 2008 Conference Chair

ISPAD 2008 is supported by the following sponsors

Platinum

Gold