The World Health Organization’s new Global Diabetes Compact aims to bring a much-needed boost in efforts to prevent diabetes and bring treatment to all who need it -100 years after the discovery of insulin.

The Compact is being launched today at the Global Diabetes Summit, which is co-hosted by WHO and the Government of Canada, with the support of the University of Toronto.

During the event, the President of Kenya will join the Prime Ministers of Fiji, Norway and Singapore; the WHO Global Ambassador for Noncommunicable Diseases and Injuries, Michael R. Bloomberg; and ministers of health from a number of countries as well as diabetes experts and people living with diabetes, to highlight the ways in which they will support this new collaborative effort.

‘The need to take urgent action on diabetes is clearer than ever,’ said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization. ‘The number of people with diabetes has quadrupled in the last 40 years’.

The Global Diabetes Compact will help catalyze political commitment for action to increase the accessibility and affordability of life-saving medicines for diabetes and also for its prevention and diagnosis.’

Innovation will be one of the core components of the Compact, with a focus on developing and evaluating low-cost technologies and digital solutions for diabetes care.

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