Diabetes and Cardiovascular diseases: A global public health issue

Published on: June 3, 2019

Cardiovascular Diseases (CVD) constitute a major part of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs).

Driven largely by 4 main modifiable risk factors: tobacco use, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and harmful use of alcohol, Non-Communicable Diseases are a major cause of poverty and a barrier to economic and social development.

Cardiovascular Diseases are the first cause of death worldwide and a major cause of death and disability among people with diabetes.

Number 1

cause of death in the world 14

Diabetes is a major health issue that has reached alarming levels: today, nearly half a billion people are living with diabetes worldwide. In 2019, it is estimated that 463 million people have diabetes and this number is projected to reach 578 million by 2030 and 700 million by 2045¹⁴

463 millions

adults have diabetes in 2019 15

Given the increasing number of people living with diabetes, the perspectives of evolution of Cardiovascular Diseases are dramatic.

What Sanofi does…

Sanofi is committed to improving access to prevention, treatment and care for people living with Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in low and middle income-countries to reduce the burden of disease in full support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Several initiatives are aiming to strengthen capacity building and access to care such as:

• The diabetes and hypertension clinics in sub-Saharan Africa

Diabetes and hypertension are chronic diseases that are a huge public health issue in Africa. Still today, patients remain under-diagnosed due to lack of disease awareness and to poor access to dedicated infrastructures.Since 2014, Sanofi supported the set-up of 31 dedicated medical structures called “Diabetes and Hypertension Clinics” in Cameroon, Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire.
This project aims to improve the management of diabetes and hypertension through capacity building (providing material for diagnostic and care, training healthcare professionals).
This initiative allowed training 1,234 healthcare professionals and treating 54,643 patients.
This program is under development in other countries, such as Nigeria and Ghana.
To reinforce this project, a digital tool has recently been launched for capturing patients data at the clinic. This is under deployment in 16 clinics in Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon and Senegal, which are expected to become reference centers.

• KiDS program

We are also committed to improving health through education. To dispel groundless fears and create an informed, supportive school community, Sanofi and the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) in collaboration with International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes (ISPAD) launched the Kids and Diabetes in School (KiDS) program to develop better understanding of type 1 and type 2 diabetes among children, teachers, school nurses and parents.

The educational program aims at:

Supporting children living with type 1 diabetes to manage their disease and avoid discrimination at school,
Raising awareness of the benefits of healthy lifestyle to prevent type 2 diabetes Since its launch, the program has reached more than 745 schools across Argentina, Brazil, India, United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Poland, Hungary, Japan and Egypt.