On Friday, May, 10, 2013, the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at An-Najah University hosted the annual conference of the Palestinian Institute for Diabetes on diabetes, its effects, and its treatment and prevention.

 In attendance at the conference were some of the most well-known specialists in diabetes from the northern West Bank in addition to faculty and students from An-Najah’s Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and doctors and pharmacists from the Ministry of Health.

Dr. Subhi Ali, Director of the U.S.- based Jerusalem Fund for Education and Development, which supports the Palestinian Institute for Diabetes, talked about the goals of the Jerusalem Fund and its projects aiming to serve Palestinians worldwide. He discussed how the Fund is focusing on fighting against diabetes in Palestine, particularly through the opening of a second center in Nablus geared towards serving diabetes patients in the northern West Bank. Dr. Subhi thanked An-Najah for hosting the conference.  

 Dr. Qasim Al-Ma’ani, Director of International Relations for the Palestinian Ministry of Health, expressed the Ministry’s great interest in working to implement strategies laid out for combating chronic diseases, especially as  such diseases burden the Palestinian people and the government.

 Dr. Khalid Al-Qadri, Chairman of the Subcommittee of the Nablus Medical Association, welcomed the audience and thanked the Jerusalem Fund, the Institute for Diabetes, and An-Najah University for their efforts to promote such important scientific topics.

 Dr. Anwar Dudin, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, welcomed the audience and spoke about the Faculty’s strategy to cooperate broadly with local and international medical institutions to continually improve medical services. Dr. Dudin also explained the preparatory stages for the opening of the An-Najah National Hospital and discussed the role the hospital will play in providing quality medical services to Palestinian citizens, while also developing medical education in Palestine.

Dr. Eid Mustafa, Vice President of the Jerusalem Fund, spoke during the first session of the conference about his experience establishing the Palestinian Institute for Diabetes. He also presented on prevention and treatment of diabetic foot symptoms.

The conference included three sessions and a number of interventions on different diabetes-related topics.  Dr. Rajai Khoury (United States) presented about the effects of diabetes on the heart and blood vessels. Dr. Mohammed Jawad (United States) lectured about surgery as a treatment for obesity and the role of such surgery in the treatment of diabetes. Dr. Fayez Mays (United States) discussed complications of diabetes on the nervous system and Dr. Abdulsalam Abu Lebda (Palestinian Institute for Diabetes) talked about the latest developments in the treatment of diabetes type I. 

Dr. Zakaria Hamdan (An Najah Hospital National University) discussed the complications diabetes can have on the kidneys and Dr. Mohamed Zidan (Palestinian Institute for Diabetes) talked about insulin therapy as well as diagnosis and treatment of pre-diabetes.

Finally, Dr. Abdel Fattah Arafat (Noor Center / Nablus) discussed the complications that diabetes can have on the eyes.  Dr. Abdel Raouf Ismail (United States) presented on the treatment of diabetic wounds and Dr. Samar Ghazal Nail (An-Najah Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences) discussed An-Najah University’s experience in training doctors and nurses in World Health Organization protocols for treatment of chronic diseases.

The conference was sponsored by Novartis Inc. and Novo Nodisek in coordination with Dr. Intisar Al-Alam of the Palestinian Institute for Diabetes.