Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation awards $1.6 million in grants to help communities in India address type 2 diabetes

The Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation today announced $1.6 million in grants to four health care institutions in India that will help improve diabetes education, prevention and care and increase health care worker capacity in rural and tribal areas and among the urban poor.

The prevalence of diabetes in India has grown roughly four-fold since the early 1970s – from about 2 percent of the population in 1972 to 8.3 percent today – due to factors ranging from genetic predisposition to lifestyle and dietary changes. The International Diabetes Foundation (IDF) reports that 61.26 million people in India are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, ranking India second only to China in total cases and third behind the United States (10.9 percent) and China (9.3 percent) in terms of prevalence. By 2030, India will have 101.2 million people with type 2 diabetes, IDF projects.

“Stemming the rising tide of type 2 diabetes in India will require a concerted and sustained effort at the community level to ensure adults have access to the education, preventive measures and care they need to effectively self-manage their disease,” said John Damonti, president, Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation. “The grants we are making today through our Together on Diabetes™ initiative will test new ideas about how diabetes control efforts can be best designed and implemented to help adults in a variety of settings.”

The Foundation has employed a similar capacity-building approach with its 10-year-old Delivering Hope™ initiative to address hepatitis B and C in Asia, and its ongoing work to address unmet medical needs, reduce health disparities and build community health care capacity was recognized in late July by CMO Asia with an Asia’s Best CSR Practices Award in the Concern for Health category.

The following organizations will receive Together on Diabetes™ grants:

• Mamta Health Institute for Mother and Child, a national organization based in New Delhi and operating in 14 Indian states, will receive US $706,995 over three years to pilot a study to determine the feasibility of involving India’s lay community health workers (Accredited Social Health Activists) and integrating various systems of medicine including modern and AYUSH, to prevent and control non-communicable diseases, especially type 2 diabetes.
• All India Institute of Diabetes and Research in Naranpura and Swasthya Diabetes Hospital in Ahmedabad will receive US $465,685 over two years to develop and test a three-setting model to improve access to diabetes education, prevention and care for the poor in rural, tribal and urban settings.
• Sanjivani Health and Relief Committee in Ahmedabad will receive US $426,374 over four years to conduct a household-by-household study in 348 villages to identify type 2 diabetes and ensure early diagnosis of undetected diabetes among those with pre-diabetes or at high risk of developing diabetes. The study also will determine the prevalence of type 2 diabetes and related complications among the rural poor.

About Together on Diabetes™

Together on Diabetes™ brings together some of the world’s most respected and influential health care organizations and academic institutions to develop effective, comprehensive solutions that integrate public health, health care services and supportive community supportive services to improve health outcomes and reduce disease burden.

Since its launch in November 2010, Together on Diabetes™ has awarded $32.57 million in grants to 17 organizations working in 23 states and the District of Columbia in the United States, $1.23 million to two organizations in China and $1.6 million to four organizations in India. The total commitment is $115 million through 2014.

You can learn more about Together on Diabetes™ at TogetherOnDiabetes.com.