Comments
AstraZeneca India, a biopharmaceutical company, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Research Society for Study of Diabetes in India (RSSDI).
The MoU has been signed between the two organisations to digitize and drive correct awareness about diabetes amongst people to prevent complications arising from the uncontrolled incidence of the disease.
The association unveiled a three-year patient awareness programme called ‘Beyond Sugar', which will reach over one crore people living with diabetes across the country. According to the companies, this initiative will empower patients and caregivers to have conversations around diabetes and take informed decisions about the management of the disease.
Low awareness levels
According to the report published on AstraZeneca’s website, the International Diabetes Foundation Atlas on Diabetes showed that 1 in 11 people in South Asia has diabetes and that India will have around 11.5 crore diabetes patients by 2030.
While 10 per cent to 15 per cent of the general population have Diabetes, a recent study suggested that 44 per cent of patients hospitalised for Heart Failure (HF) have Type-2 diabetes showcasing the steep correlation between Diabetes and HF.
HF is a major health problem in India with post-admission mortality of 20-30 per cent. Chronic kidney diseases are associated with significant patient death and an increased risk of heart failure. Therefore, it is critical that diabetes be controlled to decrease the incidence of HF and CKD in India, the report stated.
Dr. Anil Kukreja, Vice President – Medical Affairs & Regulatory, AstraZeneca India, said in a statement: "AstraZeneca has always been at the forefront of enabling patient-centric solutions for the management of non-communicable diseases. Despite currently available therapies, the awareness levels among the public is relatively low, resulting in uncontrolled diabetes and additional complications of the heart and kidneys.”
He added: “The partnership between AstraZeneca and RSSDI will go a long way in supporting patient-centric digital awareness campaign and programs to raise awareness about diabetes and its complications so that they can act early to manage or even prevent the complications.”
Dr Banshi Saboo, President- RSSDI and Organising Chairman 2020, said, "This partnership between RSSDI and AstraZeneca will result in increased awareness levels about diabetes and its complications. Our vision is to touch 1 Crore lives in India over the next three years through this Digital patient-centric approach.”
He added: “In the Covid era, this digitally-powered initiative will also empower patients/caregivers to have better conversations with their doctors about the disease and make informed decisions in the management of Diabetes. All this will culminate towards shifting from the glucose centric management approach towards a holistic and an early Cardio-Renal focused management of Type-2 diabetes. "
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.