CIS Experts Discussed Prevention and Treatments of Diabetes Under COVID-19

On 13 May, the meeting of the CIS Expert Advisory Board on Diabetes organized by the CIS Executive Committee took place via video-conferencing.

The event brought together the staff members of health care institutions and research centers of the Azerbaijan Republic, the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Moldova, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan, as well as the representatives of the CIS Executive Committee and the WHO Regional Office for Europe.

Secretary of the IPA CIS Permanent Commission on Social Policy and Human Rights, Executive Secretary of the IPA CIS Board of Experts on Public Health Evgenia Vladimirova and Member of the IPA CIS Board of Experts on Public Health, Deputy Chair of the Russian Diabetes Federation, Chair of the St. Petersburg Diabetes Society Marina Shipulina represented the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly at the meeting.

The participants discussed the treatment of COVID-19 positive patients with diabetes, the specifics of providing ambulatory care to those who were not infected in self-isolation. Specialists shared experience of providing medical tele-consultations, phone and skype consultations, home delivery of life-saving medicines, and psychological assistance to COVID-19 positive diabetes patients.

Bakhtygul Karriyeva on behalf of the WHO Regional Office for Europe invited the CIS countries to participate in the “Solidarity” project, which is aimed at providing the infrastructure for data collection on clinical studies of medicines against COVID-19 in different countries. She stressed that the difficult epidemiological situation would last 12-18 months, which demands a joint balanced approach towards chronic patients, including those with diabetes.

Executive Secretary of the IPA CIS Board of Experts on Public Health Evgenia Vladimirova noted that the timely adoption of the CIS Cooperation Program for Prevention and Treatment of Diabetes in 2016-2020 and ratification of the CIS Cooperation Agreement on Combating the Growing Incidence of Diabetes had a positive effect on the treatment of those suffering from this disease. Both documents were drafted on the initiative of the St. Petersburg Diabetes Society by the working group of the IPA CIS Permanent Commission on Social Policy and Human Rights and the IPA CIS Board of Experts on Public Health.

The participants of the meeting also discussed the CIS International Conference “Diabetes: Modern Approaches towards Organization of Medical and Social Assistance”, which is scheduled for June 2021 in Minsk.