The Primary Health Care Corporation’s (PHCC) Workforce Development and Training (WDT) Directorate organized a workshop for the first time in Qatar, in cooperation with the Joslin Diabetes Center at Harvard Medical School, United States, the world’s largest diabetes research center, provider of medical care for diabetics, and provider of diabetes education. Among the Harvard Medical School affiliated institutions, Joslin is unique in its sole focus on diabetes.

Joslin has the world’s largest team of board-certified physicians treating diabetes and its complications, as well as the largest staff of Certified Diabetes Educators anywhere in the world. Joslin also supports the world’s largest diabetes research team with more than 40 faculty level investigators for a total of more than 300 researchers.

With a speech, Layla Al Jasmi, Executive Director of PHCC’s WDT, commenced the workshop that saw active participation of more than 360 partakers, including family physicians, general practitioners, pharmacists, and supportive healthcare practitioners from PHCC, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), Qatar Red Crescent, and the military and police clinics. A number of attendees from the private sector and a number of senior figures in the medical field were also present as guests of honor from HMC, Qatar Diabetes Association, and Qatar Red Crescent.

In her speech, Al Jasmi welcomed Joslin Diabetes Center’s lecturers, Weill Cornell Medicine’s lecturers - Qatar, HMC’s lecturer, the panel moderator, and the attendees from various parties, stressing that diabetes is a growing global challenge for healthcare. The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) estimated that 537 million adults (20-79 years) are living with diabetes in 2021. This number is predicted to rise to 643 million by 2030 and 783 million by 2045. Diabetes is also a major health challenge for Qatar.

To address this serious and growing problem, Qatar’s National Diabetes Strategy (QNDS) was developed. One of the key commitments of the QNDS is to “build and maintain a strong and empowered workforce to deliver the future model of diabetes care where every healthcare professional has a robust understanding of diabetes and diabetes care options.”

She added that the organization of such educational activities, including these training and educational events and workshops, along with the application of interprofessional education, supports our vision to develop a highly skilled and enthusiastic workforce in the field of healthcare, including the strategic commitments of PHCC towards Qatar National Vision 2030, and the development of our healthcare specialists to lead the improvement and promotion of health services and provide safety for all patients in PHCC and Qatar.