Mission of essential Drugs and Supplies (MEDS) in partnership with Novo Nordisk, a global healthcare company that focuses on diabetes care have inaugurated a new cold room that will improve and increase stocking of insulin in Kenya.
A cold room is used to store insulin, medical remedy for people living with diabetes, that can go bad in case of high temperatures.
Base of the Pyramid project
The cold room, which costs around Ksh12 million, is partially funded by Novo Nordisk as part of the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) project, a public-private partnerships initiated by Novo Nordisk launched in Kenya in 2012. The project has been able to cut the cost of human insulin by 75%, from Ksh2,000 to Ksh500 per vial.
MEDS, which supplies insulin to more than 27 counties where the project is present, had been struggling with insufficient storage facility for the product for over five years.
“The larger and more modern cold room comes as relief not just to MEDS and its partners but to people living with diabetes,” said MEDS Managing Director, Paschal Manyuru. “In the past, MEDSS has experienced challenges regarding storage of insulin thus the thought to partner with Novo Nordisk and the BoP project.”
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Speaking at the launch of the cold room, the General Manager of Novo NordiskVenkatKalyan noted that undetected and poorly managed diabetes can lead to severe complications such as loss of vision, cardiovascular disease, end-stage renal disease and amputation of lower extremities.
“As the world’s largest producer of human insulin , we see it as a both corporate responsibility and a business opportunity to support local health authorities and organisations in making sure that insulin is accessible and affordable to the middle and low income patient. This is why we need to work in partnership to ensure sustainability of the fight against diabetes,” said Mr Kaylan.
According to International Diabetes Federation, 2.4% of adult population in Kenya are diabetic, translating to more than 478,000 people. The number is set to rise to 1,121,000 by 2040. Today, almost 60% of people with diabetes in Kenya remain undiagnosed.
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In Africa, around 20 million people are living with diabetes and the number is expected to increase by 130% over the next 20 years. Over 66.7% of people with diabetes are unaware they have the disease, with 58.8% of the people ith diabetes living in cities, even though the population in the region is predominantly rural(61.3%). In 2015, more than 377,000 deaths in Africa could be attributed to diabetes.
BoP project is a public-private partnership between Novo Nordisk, Kenya Ministry of Health, the Local County Governments, the Royal Danish Embassy, Philips Pharmaceuticals Ltd, MEDS, Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops & Christian Health Association Kenya and the Kenya Defeat Diabetes Association. It aims at increasing access to comprehensive diabetes care and insulin for low income earners in developing countries.
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