Diabetes ambitions
The Changing Diabetes® efforts include programmes and engagement at the global, regional and national levels. Our ambitions are to:
- give people with diabetes a priority that reflects the scope and severity of the disease and its complications by supporting systemic change for chronic disease management
- drive healthcare outcomes for people with diabetes by promoting improved care and timely investment to prevent disease progression
- break the curve of the global diabetes epidemic by mobilising multi-stakeholder efforts to set clear targets and achieve concrete results.
Giving people with diabetes priority
To change the course of diabetes and improve treatment outcomes, we work to put diabetes on public health agendas. To date, we have created a number of Changing Diabetes® briefing books for nine countries. These reports provide an overview of the diabetes state of each nation and a projection of the future diabetes burden if nothing is done to curb it.
To see more on our briefing books see the socio-economics section.
We have also engaged stakeholders through 19 Changing Diabetes® Leadership Forums and regional or national roundtables in 13 countries, helping to reach consensus about what it will take to change diabetes.
Driving healthcare outcomes
Our goals for the newly launched Changing Diabetes® Barometer website, include improving diabetes health outcomes globally while bringing down total costs.
The barometer is a collaboration with the International Diabetes Federation's Diabetes Atlas, ensuring that all data gathered from the more than 70 participating countries is included in the global reference for diabetes prevalence. By increasing transparency and highlighting areas where improvements are possible, the tool gives policymakers and healthcare providers critical information to measure progress and drive change.
Read more about the Changing Diabetes® Barometer under the performance tab on this page or visit www.changingdiabetesbarometer.com
Breaking the curve
To address patient needs and deter the growth of the diabetes pandemic, we build partnerships around a shared vision of changing diabetes and implementing the UN Resolution on Diabetes, engaging with governments, policy-makers, healthcare organisations, healthcare professionals, people with diabetes, patient associations, private enterprises, the media and nongovernmental organisations.
Our global campaign drives awareness of the personal and societal risks of diabetes. Through our National Changing Diabetes
® programmes, we promote better education of healthcare professionals and wider availability of screening for diabetes symptoms to help save lives and significant costs long term.
Over the past decade, we have published a series of possible future scenarios for diabetes, and have used these to engage stakeholders in dialogue about the diabetes pandemic. Our third edition of future scenarios, published in 2009, have two main focus areas. One scenario outlines how linking treatment outcomes and reimbursement will change healthcare. A second scenario describes how communities and healthcare systems will be impacted as obesity, which can be a precursor of diabetes, becomes increasingly common around the world.
Changing Diabetes® Leadership Forum
Since 2008, Novo Nordisk has engaged stakeholders through 19 Changing Diabetes® Leadership Forums and regional or national roundtables in 13 countries, helping to reach consensus about what it will take to change diabetes.
Changing Diabetes® Leadership Forum in China
In 2009, Novo Nordisk sponsored the Changing Diabetes® Leadership Forum in China. One of a series of Forums held across the world, the goal was to unite all key stakeholders in setting an agenda for change, including early detection, improved diabetes prevention, access to diabetes care and quality of care for people with diabetes.
Due to rapid economic and industrial development, urbanisation is growing rapidly in China. Increasingly unhealthy lifestyles have caused a significant increase in the number of overweight and obese people, and a fivefold increase in the risk of getting diabetes.
The Forum was jointly hosted by the Chinese Ministry of Health and the World Diabetes Foundation, organised by the Chinese Diabetes Society and the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, with the support of the International Diabetes Federation.
In 2010, we will organise Changing Diabetes® Leadership Forums with stakeholders in India, sub-Saharan and Northern Africa and the Middle East, engaging stakeholders in countries impacted by the diabetes pandemic.
Changing Diabetes® Briefing Books
With the purpose of engaging with decision makers, medical communities and the public in general Novo Nordisk develops Changing Diabetes Briefing books. The books raise awareness of the challenge of diabetes and document the evidence on the facts that:
- type 2 diabetes can be prevented
- the impact of diabetes can be managed, and effective treatment prevents complications and improves lives
- it is cost effective to invest in good treatment
The Changing Diabetes Briefing books also in further detail explains how the Changing Diabetes Barometer through measurement of treatment quality, sharing data on treatment quality can improve quality and outcomes of treatment through best practice exchange.
Novo Nordisk has so far produced a number of briefing books, which can be downloaded below.
Changing Diabetes® Barometer
With the aim of driving healthcare outcomes, we launched the Changing Diabetes® Barometer in 2009, www.changingdiabetesbarometer.com, giving policy-makers and healthcare providers critical information to measure progress and drive change. By creating more transparency, it is the aim to give policy-makers and healthcare providers the best possible basis for making informed decisions about improving health outcomes while bringing down total costs. The website maps the global diabetes situation by displaying data on prevalence, quality of care, cost of care, access to care and national plans from more than 70 countries.
There have been several local Changing Diabetes® Barometer initiatives in 2009.
- In Italy, after a Changing Diabetes® Barometer forum, the Italian senate signed a project together with partners and Novo Nordisk Italy on monitoring the state of diabetes - the first time a committing agreement between the Italian senate and a pharmaceutical company was ever made.
- Novo Nordisk Education Foundation in India has also successfully run a Changing Diabetes® Barometer initiative together with the ministry of health in the state of Goa where over 60.000 people have been screened in a diabetes survey during 2009. The data collected from the survey will form a basis to start a diabetes registry of Goa, a first of its kind in India (see case).
- Novo Nordisk Australia has continued a project of mapping the level of diabetes care in each region measured as average HbA1c levels to benchmark, share best practices and make targeted efforts to improve diabetes outcomes.
Changing Diabetes® Bus
In September 2006, Novo Nordisk launched 'A Global Drive to Change Diabetes'; a Changing Diabetes® Bus world tour to raise awareness on diabetes and its prevention. With this initiative, Novo Nordisk reaches out to the broader public, people with diabetes healthcare professionals and politicians to encourage both political action and individual behavioural change.
In 2009, the Changing Diabetes Bus was touring Europe and the Middle East. Throughout 16 countries more than 100,000 visitors had the opportunity to learn more about diabetes: risk factors, symptoms and how it is prevented.
More than 62.000 visitors had their blood sugar measured and went through a health check, which was offered in most of the countries. The bus stayed between 1-2 weeks in most countries visiting the countries largest cities. In all countries, the events were been carried out in collaboration with local partners: patient associations, professional organisations and municipalities among others.
All countries took the opportunity to invite politicians, journalists and KOLs for an official opening of the bus in the largest city. Throughout 2009, more than 900 media clippings were generated reaching a potential 270 million readers, viewers and listeners. The longest stay in one country was Turkey where the bus stayed 1½ month, visiting 11 cities.
Read more about the Changing Diabetes® Bus at www.diabetesbus.novonordisk.com.
World Diabetes Day
Since the adoption of the UN Resolution in December 2006, the worldwide awareness raising activities on 14 November have increased immensely. On World Diabetes Day, November 14, 2009, more than 315,000 people in 56 countries were engaged in different Novo Nordisk-sponsored activities, including Global Diabetes fundraisers and educational programmes.
See more about the 2009 World Diabetes Day campaign.
In 2010, Novo Nordisk will build on the momentum from 2009 by engaging and reaching out to even more people throughout the world. As an Official World Diabetes Day partner to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), Novo Nordisk stands together with the global diabetes community in the fight against diabetes. Read more about the IDF campaign..