Novo Nordisk Education Foundation and Roche join hands to enhance access to care for children with Type 1 diabetes in India
- The partnership will provide diabetes monitoring and management kits to close to 4,000 underprivileged children with Type 1 diabetes (T1D) in the country
- It will also provide education and training to doctors and nurses, and enhance awareness about diabetes and its management among children with T1D and their families
Bengaluru, August 4, 2022: Novo Nordisk Education Foundation (NNEF) and Roche Diabetes Care India (RDC) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to improve access to care for underprivileged children living with Type 1 diabetes (T1D) in India. This partnership is part of a global collaboration between the two parties and will impact close to 4,000 children with Type 1 diabetes in India. It will also provide education and training for doctors and nurses, and enhance awareness about diabetes and its management among children with T1D and their families. Support will include free diabetes monitoring and management kits including insulin pens, needles, insulin cartridges, glucometers, strips, and lancets. The partnership will provide care to people living with diabetes across specified centres affiliated with NNEF in 12 states and 1 union territory including Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, West Bengal, Bihar, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Rajasthan, and Jammu & Kashmir.
This partnership is part of NNEF’s Changing Diabetes® in Children (CDiC) programme - a public-private partnership that provides free life-saving medicine and supplies for children and young people living with Type 1 diabetes in low- and middle-income countries up to 25 years of age.
India is home to the second largest number (74.2 million) of adults with diabetes worldwide. More significantly, nearly 53.1% of India’s diabetes population remains undiagnosed. Further, at an estimated 229,400, the country also ranks among top 10 nations with the highest number of children and adolescents having Type 1 diabetes (0–19 years)1. This data brings to fore the urgent need for awareness, early diagnosis and therapy adherence through a sustainable healthcare mechanism.
Mr. Vikrant Shrotriya, Managing Trustee, Novo Nordisk Education Foundation, said “At NNEF, we believe that everyone deserves access to timely diabetes care, especially vulnerable patients who may lack access. Our collaboration with Roche Diabetes Care India is a step in this direction and will provide access to diabetes management and care for close to 4,000 underprivileged children who live with Type 1 diabetes. This partnership comes on the back of a long and successful collaboration between Novo Nordisk and Roche globally to create healthier lives for those living with diabetes. I am grateful to all our partners who have collaborated with us on this journey. Working together is the best way to tackle healthcare access challenges at scale and create real ground level impact. Clearly, we are not alone in this fight to defeat diabetes.”
Talking at the event, Mr. Omar Sherief Mohammad, Cluster Head – India, Middle East, and Africa, Roche Diabetes Care, said “Roche Diabetes Care is committed to enhancing access to diabetes care so that we can bring true relief to people with diabetes everywhere. We believe in the power of collective impact and that united we can create sustainable impact that goes beyond just providing medical support. It involves creating an eco-system that enables early diagnosis and treatment, and provides the required socio-economic support critical to therapy adherence. We are very proud to partner with NNEF, who has been dedicated towards this cause. Our initiatives in India with CDiC are part of our shared global efforts in creating such an ecosystem of care to provide better access to diabetes management to children with Type 1 diabetes.”
Roshni, who lives with Type 1 diabetes and is part of NNEF’s CDiC programme, said “I am amongst the fortunate people in India whose lives have been transformed due to access to timely treatment and essential care. There are so many people with Type 1 diabetes like me who do not have access to the required healthcare facilities and are hence not able to manage their diabetes well. I extend my heartfelt gratitude towards NNEF and RDC for providing better healthcare access and changing our lives.”
Initiatives by NNEF already touch the lives of nearly 6,000 children with T1D in India.
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References:
- IDF Atlas 2021 Available at: https://www.diabetesatlas.org/en/resources/ accessed on 30 July 2022
About Novo Nordisk Education Foundation (NNEF)
Novo Nordisk Education Foundation (NNEF) is a non-profit organization established in 1997 by Novo Nordisk India to increase diabetes awareness and education. NNEF aims to provide comprehensive education and awareness on diabetes and other healthcare issues by bridging the knowledge gap. NNEF drives several projects including the Changing Diabetes® Barometer, Changing Diabetes® in Children programs, and World Diabetes Day awareness activities in partnership with state governments and other key stakeholders. For more information, please visit http://nnef.in/
About Changing Diabetes® in Children (CDiC)
Changing Diabetes® in Children is a public-private partnership established in 2009. The partnership provides comprehensive care for children and young people living with Type 1 diabetes in low- and middle-income countries. This includes free life-saving medicine and supplies for persons up to 25 years of age. The programme has to date provided free care to nearly 32,000 children and youth living with Type 1 diabetes in low- and middle-income countries. In 2021, the partnership operated in 18 countries (Bangladesh, Cambodia, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, India, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Myanmar, Pakistan, Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Peru), in collaboration with global and local partners. To learn more, please visit Changing Diabetes in Children programme for children with type 1 diabetes (novonordisk.com)
About Roche Diabetes Care
Roche Diabetes Care has been pioneering innovative diabetes technologies and services for more than 40 years. More than 5,500 employees in over 100 markets worldwide work every day to support people with diabetes and those at risk to achieve more time in their target ranges and experience true relief from the daily therapy routines.
Being a global leader in integrated Personalised Diabetes Management (iPDM), Roche Diabetes Care collaborates with thought leaders around the globe, including people with diabetes, caregivers, healthcare providers and payers. Roche Diabetes Care aims to transform and advance care provision and foster sustainable care structures. Under the brands RocheDiabetes, Accu-Chek® and mySugr®, comprising glucose monitoring, insulin delivery systems and digital solutions, Roche Diabetes Care unites with its partners to create patient-centred value. By building and collaborating in an open ecosystem, connecting devices and digital solutions as well as contextualise relevant data points, Roche Diabetes Care enables deeper insights and a better understanding of the disease, leading to personalised and effective therapy adjustments. For better outcomes and true relief.
Since 2017, mySugr® one of the most popular diabetes management apps is part of Roche Diabetes Care.
For more information, please visit www.rochediabetes.com, www.accu-chek.com and www.mysugr.com.
About Roche
Roche is a global pioneer in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics focused on advancing science to improve people’s lives. The combined strengths of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics under one roof have made Roche the leader in personalised healthcare – a strategy that aims to fit the right treatment to each patient in the best way possible.
Roche is the world’s largest biotech company, with truly differentiated medicines in oncology, immunology, infectious diseases, ophthalmology and diseases of the central nervous system. Roche is also the world leader in in vitro diagnostics and tissue-based cancer diagnostics, and a frontrunner in diabetes management.
Founded in 1896, Roche continues to search for better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat diseases and make a sustainable contribution to society. The company also aims to improve patient access to medical innovations by working with all relevant stakeholders. More than thirty medicines developed by Roche are included in the World Health Organization Model Lists of Essential Medicines, among them life-saving antibiotics, antimalarials and cancer medicines. Moreover, for the eleventh consecutive year, Roche has been recognised as one of the most sustainable companies in the Pharmaceuticals Industry by the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI).
The Roche Group, headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, is active in over 100 countries and in 2019 employed about 98,000 people worldwide. In 2019, Roche invested CHF 11.7 billion in R&D and posted sales of CHF 61.5 billion. Genentech, in the United States, is a wholly owned member of the Roche Group.
Roche is the majority shareholder in Chugai Pharmaceutical, Japan. For more information, please visit www.roche.com.
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