GOOD NEWS FOR PREGNANT WOMEN WITH DIABETES
PRINCESS KATHERINE DELIVERS DONATION TO CLINIC FOR ENDOCRINOLOGY

Belgrade, 30 March 2011. - HRH Crown Princess Katherine visited today the Clinic for Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at the Clinical Centre of Serbia where she delivered two insulin pumps for continuous measurement of blood sugar and six wheelchairs.

During the delivery, Princess Katherine thanked everyone that helped to purchase this valuable donation and pointed out that now the women of Serbia will have a better chance to deliver healthy children.

Diabetes or diabetes mellitus is a significant cause of adverse pregnancies, so maintaining the level of sugar in the mother in the first three months of pregnancy is especially an important goal. Type 1 diabetes complicates one out of 300 pregnancies during the last 20 years, and its incidence has increased among women of childbearing period from 50% to 70%.

The goal of modern medicine today is that the outcome of pregnancy in women with diabetes should be approximate or equal to women who do not suffer from this disease. Up to now, it there has been an important advance in the availability of new types of insulin, insulin pumps, portable pumps that are able for frequent blood sugar control, and all this improved the outcome of pregnancies complicated by diabetes.

Under the patronage of TRH Crown Prince Alexander and Crown Princess Katherine, the Department of Endocrinology, Clinical Centre of Serbia opened in 2003 the Department for diabetes in pregnancy, and Crown Princess Katherine donated valuable equipment for to this department, which has so far helped 31 women with diabetes who now have healthy children.

These valuable donations are provided thanks to the generous help of Mrs. Apostolidou Konstantas, great philanthropist and friend of Their Royal Highnesses, Lifeline Chicago Humanitarian Organization, patron HRH Crown Princess Katherine and Wheelchair Foundation from the United States of America.