The Feel4Diabetes-intervention is expected to provide evidence-based results and key learnings that could guide the design and scaling-up of affordable and potentially cost-effective population-based interventions for the prevention of type 2 diabetes.

Health of refugees on the move in Europe is jeopardized by their bad living circumstances and barriers in access to healthcare. To address their needs, healthcare workers have to be trained in providing integrated, compassionate and cultural competent healthcare.

At the WONCA Europe conference 2009 the recently published 'Research Agenda for General Practice/Family Medicine and Primary Health Care in Europe' was presented. The Research Agenda is a background paper and reference manual for GPs/ family doctors, researchers and policy makers, providing advocacy of general practice/family medicine GP/FM in Europe. The Research Agenda summarizes the evidence relating to the core competencies and characteristics of the WONCA Europe definition of GP/FM, and its meaning for researchers and policy makers. Evidence gaps and research needs are pointed out to provide a basis for planning research for which there is a need and for action that may influence health and research policy, i.e. applying/lobbying for research funds. WONCA Europe and its associated networks and special interest groups could consider the agenda's research priorities when planning future conferences, courses, or projects, and for funding purposes. The European Journal of General Practice will publish a series of articles based on this document. In this first article, background, objectives, methodology and relevant literature are discussed. In subsequent articles, the results will be presented.

, and these included a literature search, workshops of the SWEET members, examination of the data collected by the Hvidøre Study Group and the Diabetes Attitudes, Wishes, and Needs (DAWN) Youth initiative, and a questionnaire distributed to SWEET members and professional colleagues who cared for children and young people (CYP) with diabetes. It was clear from the information collected that there was no European or global consensus either on a curriculum for the training of the paediatric diabetes multidisciplinary team (MDT) or individual professions in paediatric diabetes. A minority of countries had well-established training but, for the majority, there was little standardisation or accreditation. Moreover, most countries did not have available courses for training the diabetes MDT and training was not mandatory. Of the courses that were available more were accredited for doctors and nurses but fewer for the other professions. As a consequence, the majority of HCP posts in paediatric diabetes do not demand prior experience in the specialty. Standardised accredited training and continuous professional development (CPD) opportunities are severely limited. The SWEET Project supports a standardised, accredited approach to training and CPD of the MDT and for individual professions. As a consequence, a curriculum for the training of the MDT was developed, and this is now ready for implementation.

Background: The ongoing refugee crisis has revealed the need for enhancing primary health care (PHC) professionals’ skills and training. Objectives: The aim was to strengthen PHC professionals in European countries in the provision of high-quality care for refugees and migrants by offering a concise modular training that was based on the needs of the refugees and PHC professionals as shown by prior research in the EUR-HUMAN project. Methods: We developed, piloted, and evaluated an online capacity building course of 8 stand-alone modules containing information about acute health issues of refugees, legal issues, provider–patient communication and cultural aspects of health and illness, mental health, sexual and reproductive health, child health, chronic diseases, health promotion, and prevention. The English course template was translated into seven languages and adapted to the local contexts of six countries. Pre- and post-completion knowledge tests were administered to effectively assess the progress and knowledge increase of participants so as to issue CME certificates. An online evaluation survey post completion was used to assess the acceptability and practicability of the course from the participant perspective. These data were analyzed descriptively. Results: A total of 390 participants registered for the online course in 6 countries with 175 completing all modules of the course, 47.7 % of them medical doctors. The mean time for completion was 10.77 hours. In total, 123 participants completed the online evaluation survey; the modules on acute health needs, legal issues (both 44.1%), and provider–patient communication/cultural issues (52.9%) were found particularly important for the daily practice. A majority expressed a will to promote the online course among their peers. Conclusion: This course is a promising learning tool for PHC professionals and when relevant supportive conditions are met. The course has the potential to empower PHC professionals in their work with refugees and other migrants.