Merck recently hosted Maharashtra Merck Diabetes Day (MDD) in collaboration with Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) and Ministry of Public Health and Family Welfare of Maharashtra Government in order to provide diabetes free screening and education for more than 20,000 community members at the 18 medical colleges of MUHS as part of Merck Capacity Advancement Programme (Merck CAP).

The Maharashtra Merck Diabetes Day will be rolled out across India and Africa to raise public awareness about diabetes early detection and prevention aiming to reverse this worrying trend by preventing or delaying the development of diabetes in the African and Indian population as part of Merck Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Agenda.

Merck in collaboration with MUHS also celebrated the success of the first year of Merck Capacity Advancement Programme in India. More than 5000 medical undergraduates and healthcare providers have benefited from the European accredited clinical diabetes management course in 2015. The programme aims to target more than 25000 students in India in the next five years.

Dr. Deepak R. Sawant, Minister of Public Health and Family Welfare, Maharashtra Government emphasized, "The cost of managing diabetes is enormous and places a huge burden on already strained healthcare system. The lack of awareness on disease symptoms makes many diabetes patients to be diagnosed late when they have already developed complications such as blindness, foot ulcers or gangrene, heart diseases among others. There is a strong, new argument that by combining screening to find pre-diabetes and early diabetes, along with management aimed to keep glucose levels as close to normal as possible, we can change the natural history of the disease and improve the lives of our patients. Hence, I urge all Indians to get screened and be active in order to get healthier."

Dr Frank Stangenberg Haverkamp, chairman of excusive board and family board of E. Merck KG stated “We are pleased to engage with the Ministry of Public Health and Family Welfare, Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) and Maharashtra University of Health Sciences to improve access to better Diabetes Care as part of our commitment to the social and economic development of India. Supporting the Diabetes education and community outreach programs of the University will contribute significantly to improving awareness, early diagnosis and prevention of the disease across India”.

Rasha Kelej. vice president and head of global business responsibility and market development at Merck Serono, biopharmaceutical business of Merck emphasized at the event “In India, there is a significant increase in the burden of non- communicable diseases, including diabetes. There is clear evidence to show that diabetes prevalence is rapidly increasing, especially in urban India. The conventional risk factors of urbanization, unhealthy eating habits and physical inactivity, coupled with inherent genetic attributes and differences in body composition are propelling the increase in cases of diabetes. Accordingly, diabetes related complications are also on the rise and contribute significantly to overall morbidity and mortality. It was clear for us from the start that improvement of the levels of education and awareness of the disease will reduce its impact on health of the Indian population.”

Prof. Arun Jamkar, vice chancellor of MUHS says, “We are happy to celebrate the success of the first year of the programme. We have successfully engaged the stakeholders in the field of medicine and diabetes in Maharashtra in joint collaboration with DMER and Merck to implement their Capacity Advancement Programme, this Diabetes education and awareness program aim to provide awareness, guidelines and clinical practice for prevention, diagnosis and management of diabetes and its complications for Maharashtra community members and medical undergraduates of the 18 medical colleges in Maharashtra university.”

Merck CAP is a 5 year programme aiming to expand the professional capacity in developing countries in the areas of research and development, advocacy building, supply-chain integrity and efficiency, pharmacovigilance, medical education, and community awareness. As part of the CAP, by end of 2015, more than 5,000 medical students in partnership with African universities such as University of Nairobi, Makerere University, Namibia University and University of Ghana, in addition to Asian universities such as Maharashtra university, India and University of Indonesia will benefit from European-accredited clinical chronic diseases management training, which is seeking to equip them with skills to better manage and prevent these diseases.