Abbott’s dX events are always interesting and aren’t just about product updates. DxMilan in Italy was no different and incorporated important issues around diabetes equity, discrimination and stigma. But I especially loved the workshop on building a bridge to lessen the divide between the type 1 and type 2 communities.
Disclosure: I flew to Milan on Friday, 23rd June and back the next afternoon. Abbott paid for my flight, accommodation and travel expenses.
Freestyle Libre Product Update
Firstly, I’d like to give the Abbott product update, which was provided remotely over unstable internet, and so was then followed up by a press release, and it really is big news for the world but especially for France.
Abbott’s FreeStyleLibre® 2 Receives National Reimbursement in France for All People with Diabetes Who Use Insulin
First and only continuous glucose monitoring system to be nationally reimbursed in France for people who use once-daily (basal) insulin
Expanded reimbursement facilitates wider access to continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems, serving a greater population of people living with diabetes.
France is the first country in Europe to grant national reimbursement for people who use basal insulin, following similar reimbursement expansions in Japan and the U.S. (Medicare)
Interestingly, the “French reimbursement expansion was granted based on scientific evidence that shows the clinical benefits of using the FreeStyle Libre system among all people who use insulin. The Real World Evidence of FreeStyle Libre (RELIEF) study, a retrospective study of the French national claims database showed that the use of FreeStyle Libre by people with Type 2 diabetes on once-daily (basal) insulin contributed to significant reductions in acute complications of diabetes, leading to a 67% decrease in hospitalizations.”
Of course, in Ireland, we are the laggards of the laggards when it comes to Freestyle Libre reimbursement, but I’m not going to dwell on this here and now. Just sigh again!
Agenda Day 1 Theme: inspiration
We opened the event with presentations and an introduction to Milan from our host diabetes representatives, Daniela D’Onofrio, founder of Portale Diabetes and Prisca Hartmann Gulienetti, diabetes Instagram influencer.
The next session was informational on Health Equity and the “Diabetes Divide” with Sarah Grant, a Health Equity Consultant from the UK who is also a public health practitioner, Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist, and Certified Health Education Specialist. This was a really interesting session; we talked about the issues that prevented equal access to diabetes care and how what people need to access care can be different depending on their circumstances. I especially liked the elephant in the room with blind people analogy, where they all see the elephant differently.
Agenda Day 2 Theme: Creation
The Power of Community
This session showcased what some of the participants are doing in their communities. Nina Joachim, and Bastian Niemeier, from Germany, introduced us to a series of short videos they produced to dispel diabetes myths.
Then, Ken Tait, who lives with type 2 diabetes in the UK, spoke about the power of the diabetes community, which he set up in Bromley and is thriving and why he needed it. Ken’s story is powerful, and he is an amazing international advocate. I’ve connected virtually with Ken at dedoc events, so it was great to meet him in person finally.
Workshop Sessions
Then we began our workshop session to discuss the serious Topics of Diabetes Stigma, Bridging the Divide between the Type 1 and Type 2 Communities and Improving the Doctor/Patient Relationship. This was facilitated by Uroš Bogdanović, a 26-year-old attorney-at-law from Belgrade, Serbia. Uroš was diagnosed with diabetes when he was 13, is a board member of the Diabetes Association of Serbia and is actively engaged in activities of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) in Europe, participating in numerous events as a speaker, facilitator, and presenter. We were in good hands.
We had 20 to 30 minutes to discuss the challenges in each topic and discuss resources and activities for potential solutions. I participated in the group discussing bridging the divide, and it was a difficult group as we did not, that I know of, have anyone living with type 2 participating. It also seemed like there was a huge lack of information about type 2 diabetes from some participants, but maybe this was just me and my difficulty with the language barrier. There was definitely confusion about the topic from the start, and we asked Uroš for clarity and some guidance. I walked away with a personal action plan for our groups in Clare, but I don’t know if anyone else did.
The group discussing Stigma did an excellent job and even came up with a conversation-starting hashtag that we have all heard in one form or another #ICanEatCake
Overall, I felt that we needed more voices from the Type 2 diabetes community in the room for education and empathy. Actually, I think there should have been a bit more education on the three topics were workshopping so that there was a better understanding of why all types of diabetes needed solutions.
There seems to be an over-reliance on social media to share messages and not enough action backing it up. Something seen on tic tok yesterday is forgotten today.
Over the years, I’ve built up friendships with dX attendees, so it was wonderful to see Adrian Long from the UK again after such a long time and hang out with Kamil Armacky (@Nerdabetic), Anne and Sanne from the Netherlands. And to finally meet Ken Tait in person, where I could ask him tonnes of questions about how I could do better in bringing diabetes communities together - the workshop didn’t give me enough to go on. I also met some new friends, the phenomenal Jade Byrne from Pricks The Play and Mark Tiller from the UK.
