Dasman Diabetes Institute (DDI) was established under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah, the late Amir of the State of Kuwait, and the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS) to combat the prevalence of diabetes in Kuwait.
DDI’s Mission:
To address the diabetes epidemic in Kuwait through focused diabetes research, integrated prevention, training and education.
DDI’s Vision:
To be the leading diabetes institute in the MENA region and to be recognized internationally. DDI has established unique, innovative, technological, educational, and clinical platforms to discover mechanisms that cause diabetes. Ultimately, we want to aid in understanding the diabetes epidemic worldwide. We emphasise the importance of diabetes education through our lifestyle, nutrition, and the clinical skills centre, backed up with advancements in clinical research.
This is a unique institute, where we have the multidisciplinary team integrated within the clinical care research, starting from diabetes education, nutrition, physical activity, pharmacotherapy, podiatry, the imaging centre, with all specialties including ophthalmology, nephrology, cardiology, cardiometabolic, and periodontology. The translational research goes from the bench to bedside and back to the bench.
DDI’s educational projects:
- Dose Adjustments for Normal Eating (DAFNE) program, is a structured education program for adults with T1D, adapted from the UK to fit the Kuwaiti culture. It has been delivered at DDI since 2009. Kuwait is the only accredited DAFNE training centre in the Middle East. There have been many publications and oral presentations in regional and international conferences including IDF, ADCES, ADA, and Diabetes UK.
- Working with Insulin, Carbohydrates, Ketones and Exercise to Manage Diabetes (WICKED) targets Adolescents (Age group: 15 up to 18 years) with T1D, adapted from the UK and delivered at DDI since 2022.
- Kids In Control of Food (KICk-OFF) is a structured education program, providing knowledge and skills training to young people with diabetes, adapted from UK and delivered at DDI since 2013. KICk-OFF is a pediatric version of the DAFNE program, and there have been presentations in IDF and ISPAD conferences.
- Diabetes Journey: one-day group education workshop providing knowledge and skills to people with prediabetes or newly diagnosed T2D.
- Remission Clinic: structured program for remission of type 2 diabetes, based on the DIRECT trial and received training certification from the DIRECT team, and aims for participants to lose weight and stop/reduce their medication.
We are recognized as a leading diabetes Institute in Kuwait to address the diabetes epidemic. By setting a benchmark for diabetes research in the region, we aim to create a recognized centre for clinical trials tailored to the Kuwaiti population needs and to use innovations and behavioral interventions to improve healthcare delivery, patient well-being, and diabetes outcomes. Since 2006, DDI has strived to create a platform that applies its knowledge to translational research by using the basic sciences, applying the knowledge to our clinical trials, and to further enhance our scientific findings. The institute publishes 100 papers per year.
We offer these findings to our colleagues in the region and worldwide. We want to translate these fundamental and novel research findings into clinical practice and community-based health outcomes. Our research strategy focuses on the continuation of ongoing research activities, while defining new areas for development, with active collaborations within DDI and the wider diabetes research community. We continue to establish international collaborations to enhance diabetes research. We have created a knowledge sharing platform for innovations in the fields of diabetes, nationally and internationally.
Diabetes touches upon all countries in the world and hence, collaborating and joining the expertise of different regions will help us tackle the issue better. Our doors are open to join international consortiums and researchers around the world.
