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Diabetes Care in Japan
As a country, Japan tends to stay away from intensive treatment.  Half the people with diabetes go untreated, but good resources are available.

Staged Diabetes Management Update
International Diabetes Center has been working with Japan longer than any other international partner. Dr. Kempei Matsuoka has worked with IDC since the mid-1980s to change the way diabetes is looked at and treated in Japan.

Traditionally only specialists saw diabetes patients in Japan, yet it was clear there weren't enough specialists available to care for the diabetes population. Dr. Matsuoka (an endocrinologist himself) began to advocate for a team approach to diabetes care that would include nurses, dieticians and primary care doctors.

For more than a decade, Dr. Matsuoka, along with an SDM study group and the Japan Diabetes Society, gradually introduced the Japanese healthcare community to the principles of SDM and the team approach. Their efforts began to pay off just before the turn of the century.

In 1999:

• National standards for diabetes care were established.
• SDM materials were translated and published primarily for specialists.
• The SDM training of 4000 physician specialists began.

In 2000: New SDM materials were published for primary care doctors.

In 2001: Certification of diabetes educators—primary care physicians and nurses—will begin.