Lilly: Making a Difference

Today’s guest blog is by Julie Brink, country director for Project HOPE in South Africa. Lilly and Project HOPE are working together to improve diabetes care through the Lilly NCD Partnership and The HOPE Centre in Zandspruit, an impoverished township in Johannesburg. In October, a team of Lilly Connecting Hearts Abroad ambassadors arrived in Zandspruit to join forces with HOPE Centre staff and volunteers to help make a difference for people living with diabetes.    It’s estimated that nearly 15 million people in sub-Saharan Africa have diabetes. Yet less than 25 percent of these individuals have been formally diagnosed. Addressing the rising tide of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes is a daunting health challenge. Through the Lilly NCD Partnership, Project HOPE, Lilly and local government have partnered to address this challenge in a meaningful way.    Project HOPE has been partnering with Lilly for more than half a century. The result of our most recent collaboration in Zandspruit, South Africa, is The HOPE Centre, a community-based program that combines prevention, care, education and training in a comprehensive model aimed at improving the total well-being of people who are at risk of developing or are suffering from diabetes and/or hypertension.   Read on for more about the work between Lilly Connecting Hearts Abroad ambassadors to The HOPE Centre.