On Thursday, April 22, IDF Europe hosted a webinar titled ‘Leveraging Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic – The Need for an Inclusivity Shift’ to announce the publication of the ‘Living in COVID Times: Experiences from People living with Diabetes’ report. This report reveals the findings of IDF Europe’s Diabetes & COVID-19 survey, conducted between August and October of 2020.
The aim of the survey was to gather perspectives from people with diabetes on their lives during the pandemic. The survey recorded responses from 3,480 people living with diabetes in 32 European countries. The report also highlights many geographical inequalities in access to diabetes care across Europe. Difficulties in access, as well as financial worries, were especially marked in central and eastern European countries as well as in the south of Europe. Fear of contracting COVID-19 also deterred people living with diabetes from attending important screenings and check-ups, which may have unforeseen long-term impacts on the health and wellbeing of many people. In addition to this, one of the key findings of the report was that the pandemic had a severe impact on the mental health of people living with diabetes. This possibly reflects the impact of lockdown measures on activity levels and wellbeing and the anxiety induced by people living with diabetes being identified as particularly at risk from the outset of the pandemic. Over 50% of respondents reported a deterioration in their mental health and over 40% indicated feeling very or extremely anxious during this period.
Download the report to read more about the findings and IDF Europe’s recommendations for restructuring health systems post-pandemic.
