89
Good Practice
Human Rights
Global Compact International Yearbook 2013
education materials must be made avail-
able to the children and their families.
The Changing Diabetes in Children®
program
For the Changing Diabetes® in Children
program, Novo Nordisk works with na-
tional and international partners to
provide immediate relief for children
with type 1 diabetes and their families.
Looking beyond immediate relief, the
program builds lasting and long-term
support through the establishment of
clinics and training of healthcare pro-
fessionals.
Since 2009, diabetes clinics have been
established in nine countries: Bangla-
desh, Cameroon, Democratic Republic
of Congo, Ethiopia, Guinea, India, Kenya,
Tanzania, and Uganda. Within each
country, a number of satellite access
points have been set up to offer diabetes
monitoring and treatment. The whole
hub-and-spoke system is coordinated at
a central point in each country.
Children in the program receive free
insulin, glucometers, and strips – a
service that continues for the duration
of the program.
The program gives major support to
both the diabetes clinics and the satel-
lite access points. Both are provided
with medical equipment – including
glucometers and strips – as well as
storage facilities for medical supplies,
with the support to set them up cor-
rectly. The clinics are given appropriate
registry systems – developed by Novo
Nordisk for recording blood glucose
(
HbA1c) and other monitoring data –
and the training to use it. Data produced
in this way is an invaluable source of
information about the state of diabetes
in these countries and how it is being
controlled. It will contribute to an im-
proved understanding of the practical
extent of the problem and ensure that
individual children are given access to
desperately-needed treatment through-
out the course of their illness.
An important milestone reached
The goal set for the Changing Diabe-
tes® in Children program was to enroll
10,000
children by the end of 2014. As
of March 2013, reports from the nine
countries revealed that the total number
of children receiving treatment and care
had passed 10,000 – a little more than
a year ahead of time.
Today 10,119 children have been en-
rolled and a total of 77 clinics have been
established to treat and care for children
with type 1 diabetes. Education efforts
have resulted in 2,700 trained healthcare
professionals who are better equipped to
diagnose and treat children with type 1
diabetes and to provide education and
support to their families.
The Changing Diabetes® in Children
program supports the rights of children
with type 1 diabetes and their families
to access the facilities and medical care
that provides health and well-being.
Through the program, Novo Nordisk
aims to strengthen efforts to achieve
Millennium Development Goal 4 by
doing its part to reduce child mortality.
Ensuring the long-term
sustainability of the program
The current Changing Diabetes® in Chil-
dren program is expected to proceed
until the end of 2014. Novo Nordisk is
currently working on a sustainability
plan for the program, in consultation
with all involved partners, to identify
ways to ensure the continuation of the
provision of diabetes care for children
on a country-by-country basis.
6.
Insights and outcome gained through the
program will be shared to the benefit
of the development of healthcare systems
in developing countries.
4.
Development of
diabetes education
material for children and families,
adapted to local settings.
5.
Creation of diabe-
tes patient registry
and collection of
data for patient
follow-up.
2.
Training
of healthcare
professionals
and diabetes
educators in
diagnosing and
treating children
with type 1 diabetes.
3.
Provision of free insulin
and blood glucose monitoring
equipment and supplies for children
enrolled in the program.
1.
Improvement of existing infrastructure
and supply of equipment to
establish clinics for the
treatment of children
with type 1 diabetes.
The Changing Diabetes® in Children
program has six components: