FIP Signs Global Declaration on Diabetic Foot Survival and Limb Preservation at DFSICON

The International Federation of Podiatrists (FIP), participating in DFSICON as a partner organization, has signed the Global Declaration on Diabetic Foot Survival and Limb Preservation, a call for coordinated international action to prevent diabetic foot complications, preserve limbs and improve survival.

FIP is represented at the conference by President Pauline Wilson, PhD, and President-elect Lee C. Rogers, DPM. Dr. Wilson signed the declaration on behalf of FIP.

Unveiled at the Diabetic Foot Society of India’s national conference, the declaration calls for diabetic foot disease to be recognized as a major cause of premature death, disability and social exclusion. It emphasizes that care must extend beyond wound healing to address survival, mobility, recurrence, rehabilitation and quality of life.

The declaration sets out shared commitments to prevention, early recognition and rapid access to multidisciplinary care, including infection control, offloading, vascular assessment and intervention, and surgery when indicated. It also calls for continued support following amputation, including rehabilitation, assistive technology, protection of the remaining limb, psychosocial care and social inclusion.

Its research and training commitments emphasize measuring outcomes beyond wound closure and ensuring that people with lived experience help shape these efforts.

The declaration urges the World Health Organization and national governments to make diabetic foot prevention, limb preservation and survival visible priorities within diabetes policy. It calls for common indicators, baseline registries, flagship programs in at least two WHO regions, and a government-led pathway toward a World Health Assembly resolution and funded national care pathways.

The document proposes ambitions for 2030: a 30% reduction in risk-adjusted five-year mortality following a new diabetic foot ulcer and a 50% reduction in potentially avoidable major amputations. These ambitions are accompanied by calls for agreed definitions, baselines and safety measures, with an explicit safeguard that targets must never encourage under-reporting or delay a clinically necessary amputation.

Eight institutions are listed in the declaration’s signature section:

• International Association of Diabetic Foot Surgeons
• D-Foot International
• International Federation of Podiatrists
• Diabetic Foot Society of India
• King’s College, printed in the document as “King’s College Lon”
• Pan African Diabetic Foot Study Group
• American Limb Preservation Society
• Podiatric Surgeons’ Society

The declaration also sets out an intention to form a Global Alliance for Diabetic Foot Survival and Limb Preservation, translating its commitments into coordinated scientific, policy and public action.

Through its participation and signature, FIP joins this call for care that keeps people alive, mobile, included and able to live with dignity.