A project in the Horizon

In the Novo Nordisk São Paulo office in Brazil, Laurena de Almeida Magnoni and her colleague Bianca Gomes are working more hours than the ordinary dedicated employee. Besides their other tasks as Manager of Corporate Affairs and Communication Coordinator, they are trying to set up a local project “Diabetes Care for all”.

They hope to base the project on funds raised through an exclusive Novo Nordisk fundraising planned on Global Diabetes Day, November 14th. The funds raised will support people with diabetes in a specific part of a city named, Belo Horizonte.

Belo Horizonte is one of Brazils five largest cities with 2,5 million inhabitants. Like elsewhere in Brazil, a part of the population of Belo Horizonte lives in the favella - the slum.

A Brazilian view; skyscrapers are homes for some; leaky sheds with roofs of corrugated iron for others in Belo Horizonte.

In Brazil 5 million people live with diabetes and 69,000 in Belo Horizonte alone. The project will try to reach the 12,000 people living in the Pedreira Prado Lopes Village (PPL Village). The village rises above the city landscape, lying on a hill top as it has for nearly 100 years. With no public transportation, and with no reason for visitors to enter unless invited, the outside world knows little about the people in the slum. “They are good people” she says “but most people in Brazil know little about this group, they think they are criminals. People from middle class actually never meet people living in the slum” Laurena explains.

Fighting for the disadvantaged Brazilians

The contact with the community was an amazing experience to Bianca, the Communication Coordinator and Laurenas partner in the fundraising project. For the first time in her life, Bianca visited the slums last month. Seeing and talking to people gave her chills. She met smiling people with no reason to smile. Living in the poorest circumstances; they couldn’t even afford food for their children.

She went back with mixed feelings of having unwillingly ignored the existence of these fellow Brazilians, and at the same time she felt lucky to have the life she had. Now, more than ever, she happily works long hours and uses her evenings to get the project started. When she reflects back on her visit, working with this project and at the same time working with Novo Nordisk makes perfect sense.

Getting into the homes with the help of local partners

On the borders of the PPL Village lie two hospitals and a university, potential partners that are willing to help them and the project. If the fundraising provides a sufficient amount of money, the Belo Horizonte initiative will in cooperation with Brazilian Diabetes Patient Association FENAD and the NGO “Hartmann Regueira”, try to establish a network to educate health care personnel and people with diabetes. Health agents are social workers regularly visiting homes. They are considered the most important link between the health system and the local population, in this case people with diabetes. Once the message of diabetes has arrived in the homes it will spread among the people and they will hopefully advice family members and friends about how to prevent diabetes and its complications.

Poor knowledge the greatest obstacle

Knowledge is the key word, as many of the poorest people actually have access to free health care in Brazil. Instead they lack information and simple means to get to the hospital. Public hospitals also need training to be able to take care of the people who seek help. The project is cooperating with the private Belo Horizonte Hospital which is able to train health care staff and offer quality diabetes treatment, and a public hospital near the PPL Village.

A great step towards the realisation of the training component for this project has been taken. The Health authorities have promised to support the project by offering to implement the training facilities. The school teachers in the 5 public schools and one professional school in the village will also have to be trained and educated on how to prevent diabetes. But building up diabetes clinics within the two hospitals and producing educational material will cost money. There for Laurena hopes that fundraising initiatives with the Novo Nordisk affiliates on World Diabetes Day, will make this project possible.

The initial goal of the project is to educate 1000 people living in the PPL village in a one year period. The "Diabetes Care for All" project in Belo Horizonte will be the first important step towards a community based project model. If it shows to be a success, the next step will be an expansion of this project reaching more inhabitants in the urban slums of Brazil.