Grand Tour Cycle from Brussels to Barcelona to Raise Awareness of Diabetes and to Highlight the Benefits of mHealth

The GSMA announced the mHealth Grand Tour cycle ride, which will start in Brussels on the 5th September and finish in Barcelona on the 18th September 2013. The Grand Tour will bring together diabetes patient communities and the mobile and healthcare industries to raise awareness of diabetes and to promote healthy and active living, and showcase how mobile technology can help address the challenge of managing the condition and reduce the cost of care. In conjunction with this announcement, the GSMA also launched its mDiabetes campaign, which will explore how mHealth can support and transform diabetes treatment.

"In Europe, more than 55 million people, or 8.5 per cent of the population, live with diabetes and it is recognised as the number one cause of death across the region," said Michael O'Hara, Chief Marketing Officer, GSMA. "The mHealth Grand Tour will help build visibility of this public health crisis, as well as demonstrate how innovative mobile-based solutions can help people address diabetes and related conditions and liberate them to lead active lifestyles. It will also be a tremendously exciting experience and we are encouraging as many teams as possible to take part."

For the mHealth Grand Tour, the GSMA will partner with the International Diabetes Federation European Region (IDF Europe), an umbrella organisation that promotes diabetes care, prevention and research, and advocates for the rights of the 55 million people living with the condition in Europe. "Through this Grand Tour we want to raise awareness for diabetes, which affects an increasing number of citizens across Europe and worldwide. We also want to show how essential healthy lifestyles and physical activity are in diabetes prevention and management," commented João Nabais, President of IDF Europe.

The 14-day Grand Tour will cover 2,100 kilometres over four stages, with more than 22,000 metres of climbs, incorporating breath-taking scenery and quiet country roads. In the spirit of Europe's Grand Tours, the route will take riders through places of interest across Belgium, France and Spain, affording participants the opportunity to enjoy the sights and local culture.

Jose Perdomo, Director of eHealth at Telefónica Digital, a member of the GSMA mHealth Leadership Board, said: "We know from our own trials that mobile technology can transform quality of life for patients with conditions such as diabetes, and, at the same time, foster efficiency for healthcare providers and payers. We welcome initiatives such as the GSMA’s mHealth Grand Tour, which will help demonstrate the capabilities of how mobile technology can manage chronic conditions in real-life circumstances."

Diabetes UK, the UK's leading Diabetes charity, with a growing community of 300,000 people nationwide, is a key supporter of the mHealth Grand Tour and has confirmed it will be entering a team. The charity recently won the Third Sector Excellence Award for Use of Digital Media for its Diabetes UK Tracker mobile app, which is designed to take the daily chore out of logging levels such as blood glucose, carbohydrates and calories.

"New technology and mobile-based solutions, such as the Diabetes UK Tracker app, can play a vital part in empowering someone with diabetes to be able to manage their condition in the way that suits them. This is why Diabetes UK is supporting the mHealth Grand Tour," said Svetlana Kirov, Diabetes UK Deputy Director of Fundraising. "We welcome keen cyclists who are up for this challenge to join the Diabetes UK team to help us raise funds to continue our important work. The money raised through the Grand Tour will help us to make life better for the 3.7 million people in the UK with diabetes and the 7 million people at high risk."

"Anyone can participate in the mHealth Grand Tour by joining a charity team, a mobile or healthcare industry team, or by entering their own company team," commented O'Hara. "This is not a race - the teams are there for mutual support and to help foster a collegiate atmosphere on the ride. Riders can travel at their own pace and we expect the teams will mix it up on the road, which will be part of the fun and the experience."

To register a team, please visit:
http://www.mhealthtour.com

About the GSMA
The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide. Spanning more than 220 countries, the GSMA unites nearly 800 of the world's mobile operators with more than 230 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset makers, software companies, equipment providers and Internet companies, as well as organisations in industry sectors such as financial services, healthcare, media, transport and utilities. The GSMA also produces industry-leading events such as the Mobile World Congress and Mobile Asia Expo.

Most Popular Now

New Training Year Starts at Siemens Heal…

In September, 197 school graduates will start their vocational training or dual studies in Germany at Siemens Healthineers. 117 apprentices and 80 dual students will begin their careers at Siemens...

Digital ECGs at Barts Health: A High-Imp…

Opinion Article by Dr Krishnaraj Sinhji Rathod, consultant in interventional cardiology, Barts Health NHS Trust. Picture the moment. A patient in an ambulance, enroute to hospital with new chest pain. Paramedics...

New AI Tool Addresses Accuracy and Fairn…

A team of researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has developed a new method to identify and reduce biases in datasets used to train machine-learning algorithms...

Global Study Reveals How Patients View M…

How physicians feel about artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine has been studied many times. But what do patients think? A team led by researchers at the Technical University of Munich...

Study Sheds Light on Hurdles Faced in Tr…

Implementing artificial intelligence (AI) into NHS hospitals is far harder than initially anticipated, with complications around governance, contracts, data collection, harmonisation with old IT systems, finding the right AI tools...

Using Deep Learning for Precision Cancer…

Altuna Akalin and his team at the Max Delbrück Center have developed a new tool to more precisely guide cancer treatment. Described in a paper published in Nature Communications, the...

New AI Approach Paves Way for Smarter T-…

Researchers have harnessed the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to tackle one of the most complex challenges in immunology: predicting how T cells recognize and respond to specific peptide antigens...

Study Used AI Models to Improve Predicti…

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a complex condition marked by a gradual decline in kidney function, which can ultimately progress to end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Globally, the prevalence of the...

AI-Powered CRISPR could Lead to Faster G…

Stanford Medicine researchers have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) tool to help scientists better plan gene-editing experiments. The technology, CRISPR-GPT, acts as a gene-editing “copilot” supported by AI to help...

Groundbreaking AI Aims to Speed Lifesavi…

To solve a problem, we have to see it clearly. Whether it’s an infection by a novel virus or memory-stealing plaques forming in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients, visualizing disease processes...

AI Spots Hidden Signs of Depression in S…

Depression is one of the most common mental health challenges, but its early signs are often overlooked. It is often linked to reduced facial expressivity. However, whether mild depression or...