Cost of diabetes

As sub-Saharan African countries struggle to cope with the burden of diabetes, new estimates suggest that costs associated with the disease could more than double to $59.3 billion per year by 2030 if Type 2 diabetes cases continue to increase.

A new report proposes that diabetes and its complications have the potential to reverse some of the health gains seen in sub-Saharan Africa in recent years, overwhelming the region’s health systems and crippling patients’ personal finances as they pay for their own healthcare. Only half of the people with diabetes in sub-Saharan Africa are aware they have the disease.

Advantage generics

The US Food and Drug Administration is taking two new, important steps to increase competition in the market for prescription drugs and facilitate entry of lower-cost alternatives. The agency published a list of off-patent, off-exclusivity branded drugs without approved generics, and also implemented, for the first time, a new policy to expedite the review of generic drug applications where competition is limited. These actions are among the first taken under the agency’s Drug Competition Action Plan, announced by FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb in late May, the USFDA said.

Talking health in Hamburg

WHO chief @ G20 meet

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the World Health Organisation’s newly elected Director-General will lead the WHO delegation participating in the G20 Summit taking place today and tomorrow in Hamburg, Germany. The 2017 G20 meeting is the first time the international forum will include a comprehensive health track among its deliberations.