Raise more awareness of diabetes

Diabetes should get as much attention as communicable diseases as it is progressively becoming a common ailment in the society, according to a top official of Novo Nordisk.

“It is called epidemic in slow motion and a serious burden globally,” said Sebnem Avşar Tuna, corporate vice-president of the world's biggest insulin maker.

The number of people with diabetes is doubling every decade in every country, she told The Daily Star in an interview in Dhaka last week.

Today, there are 415 million people with diabetes in the world and it would reach 642 million by 2040, according to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), an umbrella organisation of over 230 national diabetes associations in 170 countries and territories.

In 2015, there were about 7.1 million people with diabetes in Bangladesh, which put the country in the 10th spot on the global rankings of the IDF.

Tuna said the world as well as Bangladesh confronts a serious problem called the “Rule of Halves”.

It means, only about half of the people have been diagnosed with diabetes. Of those who are diagnosed, only half receive treatment from a qualified healthcare professional, and, again, just half of these people achieve their treatment targets.

Of all the diabetic patients, only 6 percent can reach their desired outcome, as per Rule of Halves.

“It is a big burden for every country, including Bangladesh, as their numbers are big and the treatment and complications-related cost to the society is really very high.”

This led the United Nations to call on all countries to prepare a national diabetes plan to tackle the disease.

Tuna said most of the countries are dealing with communicable diseases.

“Even though diabetes is a non-communicable disease it is still a burden to the society as much as a communicable disease. So, a nation needs to take care of how to tackle the burden.”

Headquartered in Denmark, Novo Nordisk is a global healthcare company with more than 90 years of innovation and leadership in diabetes care. It markets its products in more than 165 countries and caters to half of the demand of insulin globally.

In Bangladesh, Novo Nordisk is working to raise awareness among the public and train health care professionals to make them aware about the disease and how they can increase the diagnosis rate. 

Since 2004, the company has been training more than 1,200 physicians every year in partnership with the Diabetic Association of Bangladesh.

Tuna, who looks after the Novo Nordisk's Southeast Asia and Oceania operations, said the demand for the life-saving product is huge so Novo Nordisk is aware of its role in ensuring supply consistently.

The Danish company is always carrying out research to come up with innovations relating to medicines, molecules or devices because it knows that living with diabetes is not easy.

“For example, the needles should be very hygienic and well-developed, should not hurt the patients very much and are convenient for them.”

Novo Nordisk thinks that treating diabetes is not expensive, according to Tuna, who has been with the company for 17 years now.

“Rather, not treating diabetes is very expensive. If you don't treat diabetes well and on time, it develops a lot of complications as it can lead to blindness, non-functioning of kidneys and heart failure. So, treating all of these complications is very expensive.” 

Novo Nordisk has products for the very low income groups as well as the very high income groups.

With the “Changing Diabetes” slogan, Tuna says Novo Nordisk wants to change the quality of life of those living with diabetes by offering them much more convenient treatment options and raising awareness.

The company has a global all-diabetes sports team of cyclists, tri-athletes and runners, spearheaded by the world's first all-diabetes professional cycling team, called Team Novo Nordisk.

Comprised of nearly 100 athletes from over 20 countries, Team Novo Nordisk competes in more than 500 international events each year.

“We are sponsoring and supporting the team to show to the children and the youth that if you have diabetes but want to be a cyclist even, this disease does not stop you.”

About the Bangladesh market, Tuna said: “We are committed to the people living with diabetes in Bangladesh. We have historic presence here. We have been in the country for 60 years now.”

As a global leader in insulin, Novo Nordisk will continue to be in the country because there are already 7.1 million patients and their number is only going to grow.

Novo Nordisk's investment in Bangladesh is not limited to only sales and marketing activities but also production activities with local partner Eskayef Bangladesh, one of the leading healthcare solution providers in the country, she said.

Since 2012, Eskayef Bangladesh has been producing human insulin vial at its high-tech plant for Novo Nordisk -- a unique partnership from its viewpoint.

“It is not happening in every country [where Novo Nordisk operates]. We are very much happy with Eskayef's performance.”

Novo Nordisk is providing education and transferring technology on how production can happen. On the other hand, Eskayef is also committed to living up to the values and standards of Novo Nordisk.

More than 70 percent of the Novo Nordisk insulin sold in Bangladesh is produced only in the country in state-of-the-art Eskayef plant (human insulin vial). The rest is imported from Europe.

Tuna also talked about the Danish company's programme “Changing Diabetes in Children” in Bangladesh.

Launched in 2010, the programme, at present, is treating about 2,200 children across the country. The programme exists in nine low- and middle-income countries.

“Our commitment is children should definitely survive in all countries and life-saving products should be made available to them.”

Tuna said the company has a lot of projects in Bangladesh, which show that it is part of the society.

She also lauded the work of the Diabetic Association of Bangladesh and its affiliated hospitals and clinics in various regions of the country.

“The core of everything is patients themselves. You can diagnose and treat but if you don't educate patients and they can't comply with the treatment, then the desired outcome will never be achieved.”

About Transcom Distribution Company, she said the company has a very good distribution network and regional offices across Bangladesh.

“This is very helpful for distributing our insulin products.”

Transcom Distribution is also making sure that pharmacies do have refrigerators and keep insulin products in the right temperature.

“This is the biggest thing in insulin distribution. We are happy about that,” said the 46-year-old Turkish national.