The federal government, in collaboration with the Danish Embassy and Novo Nordisk, has launched an initiative to reduce the burden of diabetes in the country.
Speaking during the ceremony to mark this year’s World Diabetes Day yesterday in Abuja, the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, said the initiative, tagged iCARE, would support Nigeria’s diabetes control efforts, provide holistic diabetic care and facilitate insulin access to the most vulnerable patient groups in Nigeria.
He said iCARE targeted reaching 12,000 patients with affordable insulin and ensuring that no child dies from type 1 diabetes through its changing diabetes in Children Programme.
Represented by the Minister of State for Health, Joseph Ekumankama, Ehanire said the government was committed to providing leadership for control and prevention of non-communicable diseases by strategically pursuing the elimination of risk factors, improving access to clinical care for the diseases, as well as preventing their complications.
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He said it would also help tackle the disease burden in rural areas.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) representative in Nigeria, Dr Walter Kazzadi Mulumbo, said there was an urgent need to move access to diabetic care from sick care to health care, encompassing a prevention and treatment approach for every adult living with diabetes mellitus through strategic and accelerated collaboration.
