Our Response to COVID-19

Learning from COVID-19 for more resilient health systems and improved care

Although COVID-19 has impacted everyone, people living with diabetes have paid and continue to pay a heavier toll. They are at heightened risk of developing a serious and more deadly form of the disease. COVID-19 has disrupted access to care, essential complications screening, and diagnosis, potentially leading to severe complications over the longer term. The burden associated with the lockdown measures imposed in many countries has constrained people’s ability to exercise and/or eat healthily and caused psychological distress.

IDF Europe's COVID-19 activities aim to:

• Support people living with diabetes through resources, information exchange, and advocacy work during and after the crisis.
• Share the learnings and experiences from the crisis to promote stronger healthcare systems for a lasting systemic change in diabetes care and improve the preparedness of healthcare systems and the diabetes community to counteract future health emergencies.
• Ensure that diabetes remains a high priority for policymakers and health professionals in the response and recovery phase and over the long term.

Living in COVID Times: Experiences from People living with Diabetes

Read the report of IDF Europe's Diabetes & COVID-19 survey which was 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. One of the key findings of the report revealed that the pandemic had a severe impact on the mental health of people living with diabetes, with over 50% of respondents reporting a deterioration in their mental health and over 40% indicating feeling very or extremely more anxious during this period. 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. Download the report to read more about the findings and also IDF Europe's recommendations for restructuring health systems post-pandemic.

We will also start to release individual country profiles below as they become available: 

Presentation of the Results of IDF Europe's COVID-19 Survey

On April 22, we hosted a webinar titled 'Leveraging Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic - The Need for an Inclusivity Shift'. Watch a recording of the event here. At the webinar Sabine Dupont, Senior Consultant at IDF Europe presented the results of the Diabetes & COVID-19 survey. The PowerPoint presentation is available to download below.