Update on type 2 diabetes Type 2 diabetes is increasingly common and we need to offer our patients better outcomes.

The number of people with type 2 diabetes continues to grow throughout the world, South Africa being no exception. As health care practitioners, we need to meet the challenge of assisting those individuals with diabetes who are in our care to achieve better outcomes, such as enhanced quality of life, and reductions in morbidity, largely due to microvascular complications, and premature mortality, primarily due to macrovascular disease. This article focuses on recent developments in the management of type 2 diabetes; specifically, the legacy effect and macrovascular disease, glycaemic targets and macrovascular disease, glycaemic management (specifically focusing on initiation of insulin therapy and the group of agents shortly to be introduced in South Africa, the incretins and DPPIV inhibitors) and the role of self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG).