Partnerships

The Task Force has worked with various partners to develop different models to solve the problem of chronic lack of access to insulin.

IDF-Rotary partnership

More recently, the Task Force collaborated with Rotary International (RI) to undertake a demonstration project - ‘Insulin for Children’ - in Bolivia.

This project received USD106,000 from the Rotary International Foundation in 2002. The project aims to provide insulin and glucose testing supplies to children in Bolivia who otherwise might have difficulty in obtaining them. The project uses the model from the IDF Life for a Child Programme, which allocates funds to diabetes centres to supply insulin, syringes, glucose strips and meters to children who require them.

The project hinges on the cooperation between RI, IDF and local representatives of the IDF member association, the Bolivian Society of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Nutrition.

All supplies from the project are paid for in the United States and delivered by major insulin and test strip manufacturers directly to their distributors in Bolivia. This process makes it easy to implement the project in other countries, since these manufacturers have a global presence. In addition, the payment process avoids the creation of small bank accounts and the fees associated with money transfers.

The collaboration among organizations and the use of existing avenues of supply avoid the creation of potentially expensive and inefficient systems. This broad-based collaboration also helped the centre that is coordinating the implementation of the project in Bolivia to obtain funding from the World Diabetes Foundation for its work.

The Task Force will seek further collaboration with RI to set up similar programmes in other IDF regions. As with the Bolivian project, the IDF Child Sponsorship Program model will be used to facilitate control and standardization of reporting.

Insulin for Life Australia

The Task Force also collaborates with Insulin for Life Australia (IFLA) to distribute emergency diabetes supplies in situations of acute need. IFLA is a non-profit organisation that collects and distributes insulin and other diabetes supplies that would otherwise be wasted. IDF and IFLA have signed two Memoranda of Understanding:

  • One relates to the donation of insulin and other diabetes supplies following emergency requests received from national member associations of IDF. Examples of successful collaboration between the two organizations include the distribution of insulin and diabetes supplies to areas affected by the tsunami in South-East Asia, Hurricane Katrina in the USA, and, most recently, in Haiti following the earthquake in 2010.
     
  • The other exists with the IDF Life for a Child Program , to supply insulin and strips on a regular basis, as part of the total care package, to children and adolescents with diabetes in a number of countries. This is a collaboration by non-governmental organizations to benefit people with diabetes worldwide.

Insulin for Life Australia distributes supplies through a network of affiliates located around the world. Countries that currently form part of the network include Germany (Insulin Zum Leben), the UK (Insulin Dependent Diabetes Trust), and the USA (IFL Oklahoma), with a further affiliate having recently been established in Austria. For information on how to join the network and on the work of IFLA, visit www.insulinforlife.org.

International Insulin Foundation

The Task Force also collaborates with the International Insulin Foundation (IIF), a non-profit organization, to seek ways of improving access to insulin, the equipment for its delivery and the education for its use for people with type 1 diabetes, their families and carers in developing countries.

The IIF in collaboration with local partners carries out an in-depth assessment of the health system looking at different aspects of the country’s organization of medical supplies and care using a protocol it has developed. This protocol, the Rapid Assessment Protocol for Insulin Access (RAPIA), draws on the principles of Rapid Assessment Protocols (RAP) which have been developed and implemented in several different areas, including infectious diseases, drug abuse and nutrition, for the purpose of applying preventive and therapeutic interventions. 

The RAPIA is carried out by interviewing key stakeholders at different geographical and organizational levels and is aimed at getting these people’s perspectives on the problems that people with diabetes face accessing insulin and proper diabetes care. Any necessary background documents are also collected.

The information gathered by the RAPIA relates to:

  • Health service structure and functioning - drug procurement, diabetes management
  • Diabetes policies
  • Reported and observed practice for management of patients with type 1 diabetes 
  • Availability of insulin, syringes and monitoring equipment
  • Existence of distribution networks for insulin
  • Insulin supply-related knowledge and attitudes amongst people with diabetes and their carers.

Once all this information is collected the IIF writes a report on the situation and proposes a series of recommendations to help improve the situation.

The IIF has carried out this assessment in Mozambique and Zambia, where it is currently working with the respective Ministries of Health and diabetes associations to improve the well-being of people with diabetes in these countries.

*The International Diabetes Federation is not responsible for the contents of external websites.