From correspondents in India, 10:56 AM IST
The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) today announced the launch of its new and improved flagship website - www.idf.org. The Federation is the global advocate for the more than 250 million people with diabetes worldwide and has streamlined its site to better meet their needs.
"Our website should serve as the premiere landing site for the global diabetes community," said Mario Fetz, IDF Director of External Relations. "We want to serve the needs of people with diabetes, people interested in learning more about diabetes, of governments and researchers looking for evidentiary data about the diabetes epidemic, and of diabetes and health associations looking for global material on diabetes care, prevention and education."
Over 250 million people worldwide live with diabetes and this figure is expected to reach 380 million by 2025 according to IDF's Diabetes Atlas. Diabetes has become the epidemic of the 21st century and the Federation is engaged in tackling diabetes through programmes at the community level to worldwide awareness and advocacy initiatives. The Federation's aim is to improve care for people with diabetes and influence policy, provide education and promote and exchange high-quality information about diabetes. IDF's website serves as meeting place for people with diabetes and their families, healthcare providers and governments globally.
"We started this project three years ago to showcase and provide an identity to individual IDF projects such as BRIDGES, Diabetes Voice, Life for a Child, World Diabetes Day and the World Diabetes Congress. From the start we aimed to use and adhere to the latest web standards and accessibility guidelines," said Alain Baute, IDF Online Communications Manager. "With the improved IDF site, we are now ready to further develop content for a wider audience, expand our languages and embrace social media networks."
The Federation is already accomplishing these goals with www.worlddiabetesday.org and www.worlddiabetescongress.org. World Diabetes Day - celebrated annually on November 14 - is the primary awareness campaign of the diabetes world and a United Nations World Health Day. The website serves as the global driver for the year-long campaign. It is available in three languages and is integrated with social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter.
IDF's World Diabetes Congress is held biennially, and will next take place in Montreal, Canada on 18-22 October 2009. The World Diabetes Congress is one of the world's largest medical congresses and www.worlddiabetescongress.org serves to anticipate and address every need of attending delegates.
"We are keen to develop the many features we have at our disposal" said Baute. "You can expect a lot of exciting things from IDF in the future!"
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