Scientists from all over the world will meet up in Seattle October 22-23 to attend the Warren G. Magnuson Congress for a Global Diabetes Alliance. The initiative is intended to help fight the rapid rise of type 2 diabetes worldwide. International Diabetes Federation past president Pierre Lefebvre, who will be a speaker at the conference, says the need for such an alliance to fight the T2 global epidemic "could not be more urgent."

More than one hundred diabetes experts hailing from over twenty countries will attend the congress. There's one main goal: the discussion of how to help under-served populations, such as indigenous peoples. However, the more general problems - prevention, treatment and the possibility of a cure - will also be on the table. It is also hoped that the alliance can help change public perception of type 2 diabetes as a disease associated with affluence, when in fact it is spreading faster in poor, developing countries where people frequently lack access to medical care.

Organizers say this is the first global alliance on diabetes. Speaking of organizers: who's behind this anyway? Well, it's being convened by the Pacific Northwest Research Institute (PNRI). Incoming president of the American Diabetes Association, Dr. Paul Robertson, is president and scientific director of the PNRI. Warren G. Magnuson, for whom the conference is named, was a US senator and supporter of the sciences who died from diabetes complications in 1989.

The ADA and PNRI's Dr. Robertson is optimistic the organization can effect change: "The response from top experts from around the world to develop a global, multidisciplinary, collaborative endeavor focused on clinical research on diabetes has been overwhelming."

Diabetes is responsible for over three million deaths worldwide every year and is likely to affect about six percent of the global population by 2025. The warning came ahead of the 19th World Diabetes Congress to be held in Cape Town, South Africa.

There are currently 240 million people with diabetes worldwide. By 2025, 80 percent of people with the disease will live in developing countries. The conference, organized by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), has the potential to influence health authorities to make the fight against diabetes a higher priority. Raising awareness of the seriousness of diabetes is fundamental because of the considerable burden that diabetes exerts on often limited health resources. Rapid cultural and social changes are resulting in an increase in the numbers of people with and at risk of type 2 diabetes. Examples of these changes are growing urbanization and the adoption of unhealthy lifestyles.

Type 2 diabetes now accounts for approximately 85 percent to 95 percent of all diabetes cases in developing countries. The cases of pre-diabetes are more than twice that of diabetes in the African Region. Diabetes will be the pandemic of this century. The United Nations resolution launched a campaign on diabetes calling on individual countries to adopt national diabetes programs. The event will attract more than 10,000 medical experts, enlighten them with discussions of the latest scientific advances in the field, and offer practical information on diabetes care, advocacy and awareness.