Lilly NCD Partnership Launches in Brazil
Today's guest blog comes from Lilly's Vice President of Global Health Programs and Access, Dr. Evan Lee.
Lilly has just launched its Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Partnership program in Brazil, where we have made a commitment to work with some of Brazil’s leading diabetes experts and institutions to strengthen diabetes care. Brazil has over 12 million people with diabetes and growth over the next two decades may be as high as 60 percent. Diabetes is complex to manage and significantly increases healthcare costs and economic development for individuals and the country as a whole. Brazil has made notable advances in diabetes care and we will be working with our partners to build off a strong base and address still unmet needs.
The Institute for Children with Diabetes is developing comprehensive educational videos to strengthen the guidance healthcare professionals provide to children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes – along with their families – living in rural areas. This will promote more autonomy and greater engagement among these patients and their communities. The Institute will initially engage about 100 families and monitor outcomes in terms of reducing chronic complications and hospitalizations. After the first year, the results will be analyzed with the goal of expanding the program and potentially creating a broad-based education network for diabetes within the country.
The Rio Grande do Sul Medical Foundation will lead a prevention effort focused on lifestyle changes for mothers who have had diabetes in pregnancy and who therefore are at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. In the first phase of this program, 5,000 women with gestational diabetes will be monitored, and 500 of them that do not go on to develop diabetes after childbirth will be selected to participate in the study. Half of the study group will receive the current guidance as provided in Brazil’s healthcare system, and the other half will receive additional training, support and monitoring from health professionals encompassing good nutrition and physical activity. After three years, we are anticipating a 40 percent reduction in diabetes cases among the latter group. The program will be evaluated against this goal and potentially expanded to other regions in order to help prevent diabetes in post-partum women.
