The National Diabetes Education Program

This primer was produced by the Pharmacy, Podiatry, Optometry, and Dentistry (PPOD) Work Group of the National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP). The NDEP is a joint program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NDEP's goal is to reduce the illness and deaths associated with diabetes and its complications. Its objectives are:

• To improve understanding about diabetes and its control among people with diabetes and members of their social support system.
• To promote better self management among people with the disease.
• To improve health care providers' understanding of comprehensive diabetes care and promote an integrated approach to care.
• To promote health care policies that improve the quality of and access to diabetes care.
• To increase awareness of the seriousness of diabetes, its risk factors, and strategies for preventing diabetes and its complications among people at high risk for the disease.
• To reduce health care disparities in racial and ethnic groups that are disproportionately affected by diabetes.
   

More than 200 NDEP partner organizations are actively engaged in the development of programs, tools, educational materials, and activities that address these objectives with people with diabetes and their social support systems, people at high risk for diabetes, and policymakers, health care providers, payers, and purchasers.

The PPOD Work Group is one of nine NDEP work groups that lend their expertise to help develop, implement, and disseminate specific diabetes-control initiatives. The PPOD is made up of health professionals from the four disciplines who work through their professional organizations and with provider colleagues to improve care for persons with diabetes.

May 2007

National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP)    http://ndep.nih.gov
NIDDK, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD

A Joint Initiative of the National Institutes of Health and the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention