Diabetes
The Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation's Together on Diabetes™ program strives to improve the health outcomes of people living with type 2 diabetes in the U.S. This program is designed to strengthen patient self-management education, community-based supportive services and broad-based community mobilization.
Communities Uniting to Meet America's Diabetes Challenge
Type 2 diabetes is a growing global public health challenge. According to the World Health Organization (WHO):
- Worldwide, one in 11 adults age 18 and older suffers from type 2 diabetes
- Type 2 diabetes directly causes about 1.5 million deaths each year
- Type 2 diabetes is expected to become the seventh-leading killer by 2030
More than 80% of diabetes-related deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, where the disease disproportionately affects the poor, minorities and the elderly, many of whom are not receiving the care and support they need to improve their glycemic control.
Working with a wide variety of community-based, regional and national partners in the U.S., Together on Diabetes is supporting efforts to develop and expand effective patient self-management programs and broadly engage affected communities in the fight against diabetes.
Grant making for Together on Diabetes concluded in December 2013, but the Foundation will continue to provide program support to grantees and remain strongly engaged with their efforts through 2018.
Type 2 diabetes in the U.S.
Here are the facts:
- Nearly 30.3 million Americans are living with type 2 diabetes
- This includes 7.2 million who are undiagnosed and do not know they have the disease
- Another 84.1 million have pre-diabetes and are at high risk of developing the disease
- While type 2 diabetes affects more than 9% of the general population, or one in 11 people, the rates are much higher among racial and ethnic minorities than that of non-Hispanic Whites (7.1%) ranging from about 12% for Hispanic Americans to as high as 22% in some Native Americans tribes who live in the U.S. Southwest.
How we're helping
These are our three focal points for funding and partnership:
- Help adults living with type 2 diabetes to better self-manage their disease and navigate care with sustained and relevant support for the course of their disease journey
- Help communities to build, integrate and coordinate medical, non-medical and policy efforts. This includes expanding the base of community organizations actively involved in and bringing their know-how, reach, influence and assets to the fight against type 2 diabetes.
- Foster a radical rethink and test new ideas about how diabetes control efforts are approached, designed, implemented and measured with special consideration to the long duration of the disease journey