Diabetes Mellitus, especially type 2, is a growing epidemic in the developing countries as they are adopting increasingly western life styles. A particular genetic predisposition in certain populations is indeed present. In Africa the prevalence of Diabetes is about 4% of the adult population, almost 15 million people, with a high rate of mortality, around 6% among all causes, almost 350 thousand subjects, below 60 years of age. The management of this disease and its complications and comorbidities is a big challenge, especially for the health care systems of such nations, considering also the low level of funding dedicated to it. This situation is also a challenge for the local medical schools and institutions which have to prepare and train the health care professionals who will handle such problems.

EXCEMED has launched a long-term focused educational project entitled CME Tour in Africa, consisting of training workshops for undergraduate students in the final year of their medical education at local universities of selected hosting countries.

The aims are to prioritise diabetes care and then to increase awareness of its prevention in such nations, thus creating diabetes ambassadors able to manage patients wherever they are needed according to international guidelines and clinical evidence-based medicine.

State-of-the-art knowledge, based on international guidelines and evidence-based medicine data, will be addressed by a European lecturer, focusing on: physiopathology of diabetes; diagnostic procedures in diabetes, including screening; diabetic complications and comorbidities; therapeutic solutions in diabetes; educational and prevention strategies in diabetes. Also,how this  information can be used in practice  will be addressed through clinical case presentations prepared by the faculties.

Faculty members from the universities of the selected hosting countries, will handle the local workshops in collaboration with the foreign lecturer. They will both present evidence-based data and novel management approaches in diabetes, as well as exemplary clinical cases of diabetic patients. The main objectives of such workshops are to help complete the knowledge on diabetes amongst the undergraduate students, diabetologists, endocrinologists and all the healthcare professional dealing with Diabetes Mellitus, to improve their skills in the clinical management of diabetic patients.