[Diabetes among immigrants from non-western countries]

Around 15% of all inhabitants in Oslo, Norway, have non-western ethnic background. In downtown Oslo the proportion is around one third. Diabetes is more frequent in non-western ethnic groups than among westerners. Treatment of diabetes requires a collaboration between the patient and the health professional and a common understanding of the nature of the disease and the treatment objectives. In the encounter with patients of foreign origin there are several cultural obstacles for compliance: language problems, illiteracy, religious fatalism and reluctance by the patients to take responsibility for his/her own disease. Lovisenberg Diakonale Sykehus in Oslo has conducted education classes for groups of Pakistani persons with diabetes.