Aims: Early intervention and avoidance or delay of progression to Type 2 diabetes is of enormous benefit to patients in terms of increasing life expectancy and quality of life, and potentially in economic terms for society and health-care payers. To address the growing impact of Type 2 diabetes the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) Taskforce on Prevention and Epidemiology convened a consensus workshop in 2006. The primary goal of the workshop and this document was the prevention of Type 2 diabetes in both the developed and developing world. A second aim was to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease in people who are identified as being at a higher risk of Type 2 diabetes. The IDF plan for prevention of Type 2 diabetes is based on controlling modifiable risk factors and can be divided into two target groups: People at high risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. The entire population.
Conclusions: In planning national measures for the prevention of Type 2 diabetes, both groups should be targeted simultaneously with lifestyle modification the primary goal through a stepwise approach. In addition, it is important that all activities are tailored to the specific local situation. Further information on the prevention of diabetes can be found on the IDF website: http://www.idf.org/prevention.