This year’s FEND (Federation of European Nurses in Diabetes) conference in Athens, Greece, marked the 10th anniversary of the group’s foundation. Appropriately entitled ‘The Diabetes Marathon’, the 2-day event took place on 9-10 September 2005 and was attended by more than 500 diabetes nurses from over 30 countries around the world.

Anne-Marie Felton, Chair of FEND, explained in her opening address that ‘for every person with diabetes, every day is a marathon for which is required training, endurance and the support of a team.’ Diabetes, she said, is a growing epidemic that has to be made a priority among leaders of the EU Parliament. For this reason, Anne invited delegates to sign the FEND Athens Declaration (available at www.fend.org) that will be presented to the EU Commissioner.

The conference included keynote lectures, masterclasses and posters. This issue of Dialogue summarises some of the main discussion points raised by speakers and delegates alike. Reports are also included on a satellite session to the recent EASD (European Association for the Study of Diabetes) 41st Annual Meeting in Athens, and Novo Nordisk’s National Symposium on Paediatric and Adolescent Diabetes in Nottingham, UK.