Sanofi announced its support to the Ministry of Health (MOH), Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Chinese Diabetes Society (CDS) of the Chinese Medical Association to launch an innovative, integrated diabetes management programme called “China Initiative for Diabetes Excellence.”

“China Initiative for Diabetes Excellence” is a five-year initiative led by the Bureau of Disease Prevention and Control of MOH, undertaken by CDC and CDS, and supported by Sanofi. It is an unprecedented program that draws upon Chinese and international best practices to deliver a truly unique, patient-centric model of diabetes management that can succeed at a community and county level.

The programme consists of three tiers, starting with developing 500 emerging experts in four successive groups through a two-year longitudinal clinical and research training program taught in person by a world-class faculty from CDS and the International Diabetes Center, a World Health Organization collaboration centre for diabetes training. Different from classic continued medical education programmes, it takes on a holistic approach and aims to groom future leaders of diabetes care. The curriculum is not only designed to train the emerging experts on global standards of diabetes care, but also designed to equip these future leaders with public health concepts and to build their capabilities of collaborating with grassroots-level doctors in order to deliver best care for diabetic patients.

The second tier of the programme aims to train 10,000 community and county doctors, focusing on providing them with tangible skills to optimize resources on the grassroots level and improve diabetes patient education, in particular for high-risk populations. Ultimately, this groundbreaking initiative aims to enhance patients’ self-management capabilities through education and organized peer support groups.

Presiding at the launch ceremony, Lei Zhenglong, Deputy Director General, Bureau of Disease Prevention and Control of MOH commented, “This innovative diabetes management program truly marks a milestone in our battle against diabetes which continues to be a major threat to public health in China. It builds upon a unique partnership among top physicians, community and county doctors and patients and is fully aligned with the focus of the ongoing healthcare reforms.”

Prof Ji Linong, President of the Chinese Diabetes Society, stated that China is facing a growing epidemic of diabetes with the largest diabetic population in the world. Data shows that direct treatment costs of Type 2 diabetes and complications are RMB 18.75 billion (Euro 2 billion) in urban China alone, accounting for 3.94% of the total healthcare spending.

Christopher A. Viehbacher, chief executive officer of Sanofi said: “We are proud to support this landmark program as we believe it will have a profound impact on the prevention and control of diabetes in China. We are confident in its success because it builds upon a strong public-private partnership and it truly is an alliance of excellence. Sanofi has been leading diabetes management for nearly 90 years and the ‘China Initiative for Diabetes Excellence’ once again exemplifies our commitment to people with diabetes”.

Sanofi, a global and diversified healthcare leader, discovers, develops and distributes therapeutic solutions focused on patients’ needs. Sanofi has core strengths in the field of healthcare with seven growth platforms: diabetes solutions, human vaccines, innovative drugs, rare diseases, consumer healthcare, emerging markets and animal health.