Novo Nordisk Education Foundation Launches '1000-Day Challenge' to Impact Diabetes Care in India Over Next 3 Years

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- An 'All-India Diabetes Care Index' to monitor the state of diabetes, has been released -
(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/783801/NNEF_Launches_Impact_India.jpg )
Dr A K Das, Senior Professor, Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences and Patron of the Impact India programme, said: "HbA1c levels will be adopted as the key performance indicator for this initiative. The India Diabetes Care Index reveals that the current average HbA1c of India is 8.56% against the usually recommended target of <7%. Through Impact India, we will work towards reducing the HbA1c levels of treated patients. Every 1% reduction in HbA1c reduces the risk of stroke by 12%, heart attack by 14%, diabetic eye disease by 31%, diabetic kidney disease by 33%, diabetic limb disease by 43%."
Sharing the objective behind this ambitious initiative, Melvin D'souza, Managing Trustee, Novo Nordisk Education Foundation, said: "The programme exemplifies our commitment towards improving diabetes care. Our aim is clear: to try and reduce the average HbA1c in India by at least 1% in partnership with various stakeholders. With this innovative approach we wish to understand some of the areas of key risk and vulnerability and partner in designing interventions that can bend the curve of the prevalence of diabetes."

Anil Kumble said, "If we are to have any hope of bending the trajectory of the potentially catastrophic rise in diabetes, we have to work together to grapple with the factors that put people at risk in the first place. As a sportsperson, I look forward to tough challenges, and with the 1000-Day challenge, we are calling on every stakeholder to work collectively."

India has 72.9 million people with diabetes. The prevalence of other common co-morbidities of diabetes like hypertension and high cholesterol levels are also high in India, around 26% and 14% respectively, further predisposing the population to an additional risk for heart and blood vessel diseases.[5],[6]

Dr Nikhil Tandon, Head of Department of Endocrinology, AIIMS, and Padma Shri Awardee, said: "The impact of diabetes is felt by the affected individual and the entire family, not merely as a contribution to physical ill-health, but also at an emotional as well as an economic level. A targeted programme backed by real-time data is the right approach to addressing this rising burden."
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