Plan to set up insulin charity for poorest countries

Paris, March 10: A leading health advocate on Friday proposed setting up a foundation to provide insulin for diabetes sufferers in the wor...

Paris, March 10: A leading health advocate on Friday proposed setting up a foundation to provide insulin for diabetes sufferers in the world’s 40 poorest countries. John Yudkin, a director of the Centre for International Health at University College London, urged pharmaceutical companies to donate insulin to the project.

The cost to them would only be three to five million dollars per year, as these countries account for just 0.5 percent of the world’s insulin market, he said. Yudkin’s proposal is published in Saturday’s edition of the British medical weekly The Lancet, an advance copy of which was made available to the media.

Nearly 80 years after it was discovered by Canadian and British researchers, insulin is still not routinely available in the developing world, Yudkin said. In sub-Saharan Africa, the life-expectancy of a child with the newly-diagnosed type 1 diabetes may be as little as one year.

Story continues below this ad

"I find it unreasonable that the major manufacturers should charge similar prices for their insulin wherever they are selling it," Yudkin said. "This means that a diabetic patient in the UK earns enough for a year’s supply of insulin in two and a half days, whereas someone in Tanzania would have to work for nine months a year to afford their insulin."

Insulin is a hormone produced in the pancreas, but now manufactured by drugs companies thanks to genetic engineering, that regulates metabolism of starch, fats and carbohydrates. If there is insufficient insulin, excessive sugar levels build up in the blood, causing a condition called diabetes. In its advanced stage, it can cause serious damage to the eyes, nerves, gums, kidneys and blood circulation, potentially leading to death.