Novo Nordisk Education Foundation has launched a pan India Diabetes programme known as Changing Diabetes in Children (CdiC). The key objective of CDiC is to give children below the poverty line access to comprehensive diabetes care and management.

Current estimates indicate that worldwide there are over 4.40 lakh children under the age of 15 years with type I Diabetes. Childhood diabetes has a high mortality rate in developing countries. The available evidence suggests that many children with type 1 diabetes die even before they have been diagnosed because of the lack of diagnostic facilities, as symptoms of diabetes in children resemble symptoms of common acute medical conditions encountered in many Last Developed Countries (LDCs).

In an attempt to address this critical gap in the management of Diabetes in India, Novo Nordisk the global diabetic drug major’s non-profit organization, NNEF to introduce the first of its kind programme in India. The programme aims to reach over 2500 kids with type I diabetes from underprivileged families over the next two years.

The programme was launched recently by former President of India and scientist APJ Abdul Kalam in the presence of children with type I Diabetes at Bangalore.

“As part of the CDiC programme, 12 leading healthcare centres, across India, have been identified that will ensure access to comprehensive Diabetes care, including free insulin to children with type I Diabetes. These centres will also provide diagnosis, patient education and treatment including HCP and paramedic training and enhanced access to Diabetes care and management,” said Melvin D’souza, managing trustee, NNEF.

The event was also attended by Ambassador of Denmark to India Freddy Svane, Dr E.V Ramana Reddy, principal secretary, health and family welfare, government of Karnataka, Prof. A K Das, Addnl Director General of Health Services, Govt of India, Dr K M Prasanna Kumar, chairman CDiC India, Mads Bo Larsen, vice president, International Operations, Novo Nordisk A/S and Melvin D’souza, Managing Trustee, Novo Nordisk Education Foundation.

According to Dr Prasanna Kumar, the project is targeted towards managing the disease among poor children with diabetes. It will  bring greater number of children to systematic screening, diagnostic and treatment process in the coming years.