Action on Diabetes delegates visit the Italian senate
Sheikh Mohamed al-Thani, director of the Supreme Council of Health, led a delegation from the ‘Action on Diabetes’ partnership to Rome and Copenhagen last week. The group, which included Dr Abdullah al-Hamaq of the Qatar Diabetes Association - part of Qatar Foundation, Dr Mahmoud Zirie of Hamad Medical Corporation, and representatives from Maersk Oil Qatar and world leader in diabetes care, Novo Nordisk, visited leading diabetes experts and treatment/education facilities in both Italy and Denmark.
“This was an excellent opportunity for our partnership to learn more about some of the best-practice solutions that support diabetes prevention and patient care,” said Sheikh Mohamed, speaking during the visit.
“We had a very productive trip – and identified a number of initiatives that we believe can be replicated or adapted for use in Qatar”.
The visit began on March 6, when the ‘Action on Diabetes’ delegation met Italian senator Antonio Tomassini, chairman of the health committee, senate of the Italian Republic, and member of the parliamentary association for the protection and promotion of the rights to prevention.
The exchange of knowledge and information was followed by a tour of the Italian senate.
On Wednesday, the delegation travelled to the University of Rome Tor Vergata, where they met with the president of the Italian Barometer Diabetes Observatory and member of the Clinical Research Board of the Qatar Foundation, professor Renato Lauro. 
Sheikh Mohamed al-Thani, director of Qatar’s Public Health Department, presents an action plan in
Copenhagen, Denmark
The Italian delegation shared information on a number of successful registry, awareness and education projects, and offered their support and guidance to adapt some of these initiatives for implementation in Qatar.
On March 8, the delegation visited Copenhagen, Denmark, where they met leading Danish experts in diabetes.
The delegates visited the Danish Diabetes Association (DDA), a private organisation with around 80,000 members and 40 partners, which shared a number of good-practice ideas with the ‘Action on Diabetes’ delegation, some of which could be of value in Qatar.
This was followed by a visit to the Steno Centre, considered one of the world’s leading diabetes research and treatment facilities, where the ‘Action on Diabetes’ delegation learnt more about diabetes related research, patient care, health promotion and education activities undertaken by the centre’s specialist teams. Again, a number of opportunities were identified for potential future collaboration.   
On Friday, the delegation met the vice-chairman of the World Diabetes Association, Dr Anil Kapur, who shared information on the successful diabetes projects that his organisation has delivered in developing countries around the world.  
Denmark is the home of Maersk Oil, and the visit concluded with a lunch hosted by Jakob Thomasen, Maersk Oil’s CEO, and a senior delegation from the Maersk organisation.