Highlights of the 34th annual ISPAD meeting, 13-16 August 2008, Durban, South Africa

The 34th annual meeting of the International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes (ISPAD), held in Durban, South Africa, was entitled ‘Advancing Diabetes Care’ and was aimed at reflecting the need for continuous improvement in care for the world’s children with diabetes. In his opening remarks, conference president Dr Kuben Pillay defined the magnitude of the problem of diabetes in the world today: currently, there are 440 000 children aged 0–14 yr with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) all over the world with a 3% annual increase and estimated number of 70 000 newly diagnosed cases per year (www.df.org/e-atlas). A series of short videos shown throughout the conference reinforced our need to strive for a better world for youth with…