To address inequity in access to quality diabetes care for many children and young adults around the world, Eli Lilly and Company and Life for a Child (LFAC) are significantly expanding their long-term partnership and shared mission to provide free immediate care as well as build sustainable diabetes care models for vulnerable populations. Additionally, Life for a Child announced a new strategic partnership with Beyond Type 1, a global diabetes nonprofit focused on changing what it means to live with chronic illness.
Starting in February 2021, the partners will expand access to care for youth with diabetes from approximately 23,000 in 2020 to approximately 150,000 in 65 countries over the next 10 years. The program also strives to improve outcomes in all countries that receive support. Type 1 diabetes management support includes access to mealtime and basal insulins, reusable pens, blood glucose monitoring, A1C testing and diabetes education.
“Insulin has improved dramatically since it was first discovered a century ago, but there is still much work to be done to ensure equitable access to quality diabetes care, medicines, and support programs across the globe,” said Mike Mason, president, Lilly Diabetes. “Lilly and Life for a Child have been collaborating for years to develop solutions, and we are excited to strengthen this critical work with Beyond Type 1.”
Since 2009, Lilly has donated 2.4 million vials of insulin to LFAC, which provides access to care, education, and lifesaving medicines and supplies to children and young people with type 1 diabetes in developing countries. As part of the partnership, Lilly will provide mealtime and basal insulins and reusable pens as well as covering the costs associated with arranging, packing, and shipping to countries in conjunction with Direct Relief. The expanded partnership will enable Life for a Child to reach children and young people in more than 60 countries, including India, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Bolivia.
“Insulin is essential for survival in type 1 diabetes, but it is not enough – blood glucose monitoring, medical care, and diabetes education are just as important. Lilly’s very generous and extensive support of this expansion will enable Life for a Child to greatly increase provision of all these components of care, in many countries across the globe,” said Dr. Graham Ogle, General Manager of Life for a Child. “Together, we aim to build a healthier world, where children with diabetes thrive no matter what country or situation they are born into.”
Global diabetes nonprofit Beyond Type 1 will further support the expansion of Life for a Child’s programming by providing educational resource development alongside strategic communications support to amplify their critically important work.
“Over the next ten years, with this new support, Life for a Child’s footprint will expand to serve 150,000 children with life-sustaining diabetes care around the globe. Beyond Type 1 is thrilled to be joining the LFAC Steering Committee and working to magnify and support this work through community building, communication efforts and resource development,” said Beyond Type 1 CEO Thom Scher.
The expansion of the Life for a Child program is part of Lilly’s social impact efforts and supports Lilly 30×30, the company’s goal to improve access to quality health care for 30 million people living in settings with limited resources, each year, by 2030. The expansion builds on decades of Lilly’s global health work to improve equitable access to diabetes care and medicines, including in Kenya, Mexico, South Africa, and the U.S.
About Eli Lilly and Company
Lilly is a global health care leader that unites caring with discovery to create medicines that make life better for people around the world. We were founded more than a century ago by a man committed to creating high-quality medicines that meet real needs, and today we remain true to that mission in all our work. Across the globe, Lilly employees work to discover and bring life-changing medicines to those who need them, improve the understanding and management of disease, and give back to communities through philanthropy and volunteerism.
