Access to health
Changing diabetes is no easy task. The crisis is evident: according to the International Diabetes Federation the number of people with diabetes worldwide is expected to grow from 171 million in 2000 to 380 million in 2025. Approximately 80% of the explosive growth in diabetes is expected to occur in the developing world. Click here to see the global distribution of people with diabetes.
Most developing countries lack the resources to provide the healthcare that their populations need. But doing nothing is also costly: the burden of chronic disease has major economic effects on families, communities and societies.
The same is true for much of the developed world, where people with diabetes are more likely to receive care, but where treatment targets more often than not are still not achieved, with devastating effects in both human and economic terms.
Urgent action required
The biggest issues in the developing part of the world are the unequal distribution of wealth, access to health, and dealing with corrupt and unsustainable regimes.
We support the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, and our strategy on access to health recognises the link between poverty and ill health. To successfully contribute to providing global access to health, we have found it necessary to focus both on the micro level, addressing individuals, and on the macro level, addressing systems and structures.
In developed countries we work to provide evidence of the costs of diabetes, to inform policy decisions, and to improve treatment outcomes for people with diabetes by focusing on the person behind the disease, ie providing more than medicines.
No country or institution can solve the diabetes pandemic alone. New approaches must include partnerships between the private sector, governments, NGOs, and international aid and development agencies. Only collaborative effort will bring the world closer to realising every individual’s right to global health.
Novo Nordisk’s global health strategy
Novo Nordisk’s strategy for improved access to diabetes care is based on the recommendations of the World Health Organization for increasing access to health:
Access to health within haemophilia care
Novo Nordisk also recognises that there is a significant need to improve haemophilia treatment and infrastructure in developing countries. In 2005 the company therefore set up the Novo Nordisk Haemophilia Foundation (NNHF) as a commitment to the company’s social responsibility for haemophilia care.
Health Policy Committee
The work in this field is governed by the Health Policy Committee, which is chaired by Kåre Schultz, executive vice president and chief operating officer.
This page has been assessed by PricewaterhouseCoopers as part of its assessment of Novo Nordisk’s statement that it reports ‘in accordance’ with GRI. Please refer to Audit and assurance for a full description of the nature of assurance offered.
