Diabetic foot care training in the absence of podiatrists

The staggering shortage of podiatry education programmes throughout the world, especially in developing countries, was highlighted in a recent issue of The Diabetic Foot Journal (Bakker, 2009; Tulley et al, 2009). Only 19 of the world’s 212 countries have licensed schools of podiatry, producing woefully inadequate numbers of podiatrists to address the diabetic foot problem on a global scale, with the estimated prevalence of diabetes expected to rise to 380 million by 2025 (International Diabetes Federation, 2007). The anticipated shortfall in diabetic foot care is an alarming prospect.