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World Diabetes Day: How MSF is getting insulin to people who need it

Countries
DR Congo
Sources
MSF
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Around the world, only half of the people living with type one diabetes have access to insulin. In the places where Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is present, our teams work to make diabetes care accessible for everyone who needs it. In North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo, MSF doctor Grazia Caleo found that many children with diabetes could not get the care they needed.

“They were not even going to visit the hospital because they couldn’t afford a boat, the transport to reach the hospital, or the treatment, access to insulin,” she said. "We have a duty, a responsibility to make sure that those patients are not left behind." MSF is calling for companies to make insulin pens and vials cheaper in low- and middle-income countries, and for countries to make public their prices for “diabetes bundles”—insulin, injection devices for insulin, and glucose monitoring devices—to help other governments and care providers with their price negotiations.

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