The good work can go on

They are widely neglected as development issues and underestimated as diseases with profound economic consequences. It is, however, our hope that through better awareness and advocacy, resources will be found to address the underlying risk factors and the need for care, to stop and prevent the ultimate disaster from striking.

While the challenge is huge, there is now, it seems light at the end of the long tunnel. Increasingly, relevant International agencies are recognising the need to address the problem.

However, still very few financial resources are available to take action. In this setting it is no surprise that within a short span of six years the World Diabetes Foundation has already emerged as a leading funding agency for community actions to address prevention and treatment of diabetes in the developing world. 

Novo Nordisk shareholders approve additional endowment

The work of the Foundation has received widespread accolades but the best was at the annual general assembly held in March 2008, when the shareholders of Novo Nordisk A/S approved an additional endowment of 575 million Danish Kroner (DKK) and extended the original funding period by five years i.e. up to 2017; this coming over the original grant of 500 million DKK brings the total endowment from Novo Nordisk A/S to 1.075 billion DKK equivalent to approximately USD 221 million, at current exchange rates, to be disbursed over 15 years.

This is truly good news for the poorest people with diabetes in the developing world.

Introducing the resolution to support the additional funding, Novo Nordisk CEO & President, Mr. Lars Rebien Sørensen explained that as a member of the WDF board, he has followed the Foundation’s activities closely since it was created in 2002.

Novo Nordisk CEO & President Mr. Lars Rebien Sørensen is one of the dedicated members of the WDF Board of Directors.

"I cannot describe in words how much need there is for the work they’re doing in developing countries,” he said. "It’s truly amazing.”

Chairman thanked on behalf of all those who suffer from diabetes

Prof. Pierre Lefébvre, Chairman of the WDF, took the opportunity to thank the Shareholders. "The Board of the WDF is delighted with your decision – the good work can go on, we will make the best use of the money you have generously granted us”, he said and continued in a rare emotional expression of gratitude: “Let me just say to all of you 'Thank You' for your decision. Thank you in the name of my Colleagues in the Board, thank you in the name of our Executive Director and his extraordinary Staff (rarely has so much been done by so few), but, above all, thank you on behalf of those who have to live with diabetes, thank you for those in whom we have been able to prevent diabetes to occur, thank you for all those in whom blindness or amputation of a leg has been prevented. Personally, I thank those who have invited me to chair the Board of the World Diabetes Foundation. After my wedding, this has been the most gratifying experience of my life”, he said.

The additional endowment was of course also received with great gratitude from Dr. Anil Kapur, Managing Director of the World Diabetes Foundation: "We at the World Diabetes Foundation are grateful for this additional endowment and are enthused by the fact that our work has lived up to Novo Nordisk's expectations. The challenges posed by diabetes in the developing world are immense; however, the work of the Foundation already provides care and relief to millions of people; and the footprints of these interventions can been seen across the world. To me these initial years mark the beginning of a journey of hope for people with diabetes in the developing world. While funding is essential to get the job done, more important is dedication, commitment and trust, values we get in abundance from our project partners and I salute them for their efforts and the continued success of the projects, says Dr Anil Kapur.

This page was last updated 4-21-2008 by jrb.wdf