peer reviewed ; Since 2001, the "Diabetes Convention Centres" in Belgium participated to a survey, called IPQED ("Initiative for the Promotion of Quality and Epidemiology of Diabetes mellitus), every 12-18 months. This project aims at systematically and anonymously collecting a limited but significant set of data (anamnesis, clinical examination, clinical chemistry: according to DiabCare) in a large sample (about 10%) of type 1 or type 2 diabetic patients followed in the Diabetes Convention Centres (inclusion criteria: at least two injections of insulin per day). IPQED has three main objectives: 1) to optimise the quality of care using a benchmarking process and the creation of quality circles; 2) to provide to health authorities some general advise concerning care for diabetic patients, in general, and in the Convention Diabetes Centres, in particular; and 3) to collect Belgian data among a large cohort of diabetic patients (around 8.000 per survey) that could be used for epidemiological studies.