WHO pushes to tackle rampant rise of diabetes
The World Health Organization has turned the spotlight on the insulin market -- and its own domination by three Big Pharma giants -- in a brand new bid to tackle the rapid rise of diabetes.
The WHO marked the 100-year anniversary of the discovery of insulin this week by launching a new Global Diabetes Compact targeted at boosting efforts to avoid diabetes and giving access to treatment to everyone who needs it.
"The need to take urgent action on diabetes is clearer than ever," said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
"The number of folks with diabetes has quadrupled within the last 40 years," he said, noting that "it's the only major non-communicable disease for which the risk of dying early is certainly going up, instead of down".
Tedros said addressing the crisis was particularly important when confronted with the coronavirus pandemic, stressing that "a higher proportion of folks who are severely ill in hospital with COVID-19 have diabetes".
The WHO says that about 422 million persons worldwide have diabetes, most moving into low-and middle-income countries, and 1.6 million deaths are directly related to diabetes each year.
The WHO said diabetes deaths had risen by 70 percent since 2000 and it was now the world's ninth leading reason behind death.
The U.N. health agency said urgent action is necessary on increasing usage of affordable insulin, particularly in less wealthy countries.
"The Global Diabetes Compact will catalyze political commitment for action to boost the accessibility and affordability of life-saving medicines for diabetes and in addition because of its prevention and diagnosis," Tedros said.
For people coping with diabetes, usage of treatment, including insulin, is crucial to their survival.
Diabetes is a chronic, metabolic disease seen as a elevated blood sugar, which leads as time passes to serious harm to the heart, arteries, eyes, kidneys and nerves.
The most frequent is type 2 diabetes, usually in adults, which occurs when the body becomes resistant to insulin or will not make enough of it.
Type 1 diabetes is a chronic condition where the pancreas produces little if any insulin by itself.
Tedros said: "It is a failure of society and the global community that people who need insulin should face financial hardship to buy it or go without it and risk their life."
A problem is that the global insulin market is dominated by simply three companies: Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi.
In 2019, WHO introduced a prequalification pilot program aimed at bringing more manufacturers into the market to "help improve the option of quality-assured insulin to countries that are currently not meeting demand".
It said talks had begun with insulin manufacturers about ways to meet up with the growing demand "at prices that countries are able".
The medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) called on the WHO to prioritize way to obtain more quality-assured resources of insulin, saying access was critical in the context of the coronavirus pandemic.
"Globally, only half of people requiring it have access to this essential medicine today as a result of challenging storage requirements, complex treatment protocols and high prices," MSF said.
"Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi dominate the global market and often may actually mirror each other's price increases. That is particularly disappointing."
The WHO also said greater usage of diabetes diagnostic tools and medicines was urgently needed, with many persons struggling to acquire and afford blood sugar meters and test strips.
It said innovation would give attention to developing low-cost technologies and digital solutions for diabetes care.
Source: japantoday.com
