In the UK, nearly a third of the population lives with a chronic disease, with 12 million people suffering from diabetes, hypertension, asthma or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease – COPD. Around 80% of consultations in primary care relate to chronic diseases and 60% of hospital days are spent treating patients with such diseases. With the growth of type 2 diabetes world-wide, the World Health Organization has recently predicted that chronic diseases will be the leading cause of disability by 2020. The increasing prevalence of chronic diseases is not confined to the developed world, however. The number of people with diabetes is predicted to rise to 366 million by 2030, but 298 million of these will be from developing countries. Improved self-management, coupled with regular education and support, is seen as the best means of slowing the inexorable rise of healthcare spending on chronic diseases but the challenge is to create sustainable, large-scale programs capable of delivering both.

Проф. д-р Лајонел Тарашенко е дел од истражувачкиот институт Institute of Biomedical Engineering, кој е дел од Department of Engineering Science при Универзитетот во Оксфорд. Повеќе информации за предавачот можете да погледнете на неговата веб страна.