The World Diabetes Foundation (WDF) and the Danish Red Cross (DRC) began collaborating in 2013, with a diabetes prevention project in rural Georgia. A second diabetes prevention and care project followed in Armenia in 2016. Then, just last month, a new joint project in Lebanon received funding from the Novo Nordisk Foundation, providing a much-needed investment into that country’s health system.
More than 350 million people in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) live with diabetes. 77% of these do not receive adequate care. The rise in people living with diabetes is putting immense pressure on healthcare professionals (HCPs) and healthcare systems where resources are scarce.
With a timely diagnosis and proper treatment, diabetes is typically a manageable disease. Yet many HCPs in LMICs lack sufficient skills and resources to prevent, diagnose and treat diabetes.
Marginalised, vulnerable and underserved populations in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) continue to be hardest hit by diabetes and its complications. Yet responses remain under-resourced, both from domestic resources and development assistance.
Diabetes and its complications are a serious burden for Indigenous communities in Canada. To address this, the Raven Indigenous Impact Foundation (RIIF) today announced plans to create a Diabetes Reduction Bond – an innovative model for designing and financing diabetes interventions in Canada and around the world.
The project is supported by a $506,000 (USD) grant from the World Diabetes Foundation.
The end of 2020 will not likely be remembered for much good news. But in the fall, an encouraging article appeared in the American Journal of Applied Psychology. A team of educators and public health experts in Mexico had successfully improved the ability of teachers, students and parents to improve healthy habits relating to diet and exercise.
The article explored the impact of a project designed by Martha Givaudan and her team at Instituto Mexicano de Investigación de Familia y Población A.C. (IMIFAP) and supported by WDF.
Guatemala’s Sololá region, with its sparkling lake ringed by volcanoes, is exceptionally beautiful. But a hidden danger stalks the Maya people who live there.
Glucose tests conducted by Hospitalito Atitlán, WDF’s partner in the region, found that 15% of people tested had diabetes and 11% were pre-diabetic. More than 23% of the hospital’s patients are obese, and 43% are overweight.
WDF funded a total of 11 new projects in the second half of 2020, many in Africa but also spanning the rest of the world.
Several of the new projects build on previous projects, for example by extending Armenia’s national diabetes strategy and improving access to diabetes care and prevention in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In Mozambique, a new project aims to ensure that the results obtained during the first phase are not eroded because of the current COVID-19 emergency. Two more projects, in Mongolia and Uganda, are working with different NCD management models.
In 2015, a WDF programme manager visited Amazonas, Brazil to see the progress of Educating Educators in Diabetes Without Borders – an ambitious effort to train hundreds of healthcare professionals in some of Brazil’s most remote areas.
The Global Diabetes Walk 2020 had big shoes to fill. The Walk campaign broke records in 2019, but the arrival of COVID-19 demanded a new approach. After consulting with partners, WDF decided to adapt the 2020 campaign to include smaller Walks, more individuality and the option to walk the whole month of November.
“The results surpassed all our expectations – and confirmed that there is a real appetite for diabetes awareness-raising opportunities, even during a difficult year,” says Gwendolyn Carleton, WDF Communications Manager.
On November 14, the news-style programme Diabetes Matters had its global online premiere.
Diabetes Matters features the voices of people with diabetes, health practitioners and advocates, and was created to raise diabetes awareness for World Diabetes Day 2020 and beyond. The 47-minute programme was produced by ITN Productions in partnership with the International Diabetes Federation and Diabetes UK.