Last year Medtronic LABS enrolled 2,773 diabetic patients which was a 47% increase from 2020. While there have been advances in care, around the world the diabetes continues to rise.
In rural South East Asia and Africa where Medtronic LABS provides diabetes screening and treatment, numbers are expected to rise dramatically. The number of adults in Africa with diabetes is estimated to increase by 134% from 2021 to 2024 while in South East Asia, diabetes is projected to increase by 68% from 2021 to 2024. Currently, 1 in 22 adults in Africa are living with diabetes and 1 in 11 adults in South East Asia has diabetes.
The expected double-digit rise of diabetes in locations Medtronic LABS provides care means as an organization we need to scale to meet the demand for screening, enrollment, treatment, and clinical support. Increased patients will necessitate increased public-private partnerships with health system stakeholders, technological and operational investments, as well as trained community-based healthcare workers.
Instead of implementing a standard program across all regions and countries, to meet the needs of the location-specific healthcare system, culture, and stakeholders, each diabetic care program is tailored. As we scale to meet capacity, additional programs will be created, and existing programs will expand by partnering and implementing alongside local stakeholders and their existing health systems.
“Each country has a unique set of stakeholders, and the health systems are at different stages of maturity. The solutions we implement have to be adapted at least a little bit to fit the needs by country. We need “tailoring” vs. producing standard sizes.” ~ Ruchika Singhal, Vice President of Global Health, Medtronic LABS
To help patients prevent and treat underlying lifestyle risk factors associated with diabetes, community-based support groups are imperative to educate, improve adherence, and foster program engagement. As our programs grow, consistent feedback from local community health workers (CHWs) and patient advocates will be integral to making sure patient and clinical support groups meet the needs of the local patients.
“As our teams engage with patients and CHWs, we continually engage them in feedback to iterate and refine the model. It’s an integrated, on-the-ground, continual, human-centered design approach.” ~ Ruchika Singhal, Vice President of Global Health, Medtronic LABS
With the urgency to scale diabetes programs for sustainable impact, collaboration amongst organizations as well as stakeholder feedback will be critical to advance care and improve the lives of patients for the long term. Together we can transform healthcare to produce measurable patient outcomes for all.
