Annual Review 2009

This year’s Annual Review includes examples of important strategic intervention areas of the World Diabetes Foundation, coupled with best practices from around the world, demonstrating how even the smallest investments and partnerships can accelerate a catalytic effect.

Our approach to fighting diabetes is founded on strategic integration of four identified intervention areas: Care, Prevention, Networks and National Programmes. These areas define the scope and extent of our work. In this year’s Annual Review, you will be introduced to each of these areas, followed by examples from related projects. In this way, we hope to give you more than just a taste of what we do, but also an outline of the rationale for why we do it.The World Diabetes Foundation is prioritising its work to support the overall objectives of the Millennium Development Goals. Our project funding is heavily skewed in favour of the poorest of the poor– the ones least able to withstand the burden of the disease. It is an integral part of the World Diabetes Foundation’s strategy to work with “neglected areas” of diabetes care which are important both from a health and socio-economic standpoint and are of particular relevance to the poor, namely prevention of needless foot amputations and blindness as a consequence of diabetes – areas which have thus far not received adequate attention from the international diabetes community at large.

Bringing attention to Mothers and diabetes

Another important focus area of the World Diabetes Foundation is the issue of women and diabetes, bringing attention to the fact that, apart from the biological differences in how diabetes affects women, gender inequality places a higher burden of social and economic consequences of diabetes on women, while at the same time imposing greater barriers to access to care. The fact that undetected and untreated diabetes during pregnancy involves a higher risk of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality and poor pregnancy outcomes, coupled with the fact that diagnosis of gestational diabetes identifies women as well as their offspring at very high risk of future diabetes, means that identifying and providing care for diabetes during pregnancy are crucial. Through its advocacy work, the Foundation is bringing these issues to the forefront of discussions and is lobbying to integrate diabetes screening and care in maternal health programmes, while at the same time funding individual projects at local level to pilot such approaches. In the Annual Review you will find examples of maternal health projects supported by the World Diabetes Foundation and how they are impacting on improving access to care in the developing countries.

National programmes

Another key focus area for the Foundation is to address the apparent lack of formulated health policies, strategies and action plans to address the emerging pandemic of diabetes and other non-communicable diseases. Isolated interventions do take place, but in the absence of an overall framework guiding the process and ensuring sustainability, planning, coherence and impact may suffer. The World Diabetes Foundation has therefore found it a logical next step to facilitate sustainability of the individual projects in a country by ensuring – where possible – that the interventions are elevated to a national strategy in a national non-communicable disease programme. A national health programme combines the efforts towards improving access to health care with primary and secondary prevention, under the umbrella of a government endorsed network of stakeholders, joined in the fight against diabetes and other non-communicable diseases. By doing so, we ensure that diabetes and non-communicable diseases in general are included in the national health strategies and are approached with the necessary commitment and resources required to fight the imminent socio-economic burden of non-communicable diseases in the developing countries and for people who are least able to withstand the burden of ill-health.

Joining forces and supporting sustainable solutions

To date, the World Diabetes Foundation has funded 219 projects in 90 countries, focusing on awareness, education and capacity building at local, regional and global levels. The total project portfolio has reached USD 230.7 million, of which USD 77.4 million were donated by the Foundation. In alignment with our overall strategy, our funding is earmarked for areas where it truly makes a difference – in countries where resources for diabetes prevention and treatment are very scarce and where the projected future burden of diabetes is high.The joining of forces at global, regional and national levels is necessary to address the imminent threat to world health and break the vicious circle. At the World Diabetes Foundation, we work at all three levels, creating alliances and identifying local ambassadors to influence the health agenda, health policies and programmes and to support sustainable solutions. In the following we have sought to describe several of these interventions that underpin the Foundation’s Code of Conduct  and mission.We encourage you to read and learn more by downloading the Annual Review 2009