Access to health
Access to health - defined as availability, accessibility, affordability and quality - is a critical precondition for effective prevention, treatment and care, and is increasingly viewed as a human right.
As a world leader in diabetes care, Novo Nordisk’s access to health initiatives are directed towards changing access to diabetes. That means the promotion of not only medicines, but of diabetes care inclusive for all - across geographies, cultures, social standing, age, gender and ethnicity. This is part of Novo Nordisk’s ambition to change diabetes – for good.
In the next twenty years, according to the International Diabetes Federation, diabetes worldwide is expected to go from currently about 200 million to 380 million in 2025. Approximately 80% of the explosive growth in diabetes is expected to occur in the developing world. Click here to see the global distribution of people with diabetes.
Most developing countries lack the resources to provide the healthcare that their populations need. But doing nothing is also costly: the burden of chronic disease has major economic effects on families, communities and societies. In the developed world, certain disadvantaged population groups also lack adequate access to care, with devastating effects in both human and economic terms.
Urgent action required
The biggest issues in the developing part of the world are the unequal distribution of wealth, access to health, and dealing with corrupt and unsustainable regimes.
We support the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, and our strategy on access to health recognises the link between poverty and ill health. To successfully contribute to providing global access to health, we have found it necessary to focus both on the micro level, addressing individuals, and on the macro level, addressing systems and structures.
In developed countries we work to provide evidence of the costs of diabetes, to inform policy decisions, and to improve treatment outcomes for people with diabetes by focusing on the person behind the disease, ie providing more than medicines.
No country or institution can solve the diabetes pandemic alone. New approaches must include partnerships between the private sector, governments, NGOs, and international aid and development agencies. Only collaborative effort will bring the world closer to realising every individual’s right to global health.
Novo Nordisk’s global health strategy
Our strategy towards access to health was revised in late 2007 to reflect a more global, sustainable, and inclusive approach. The strategy took effect in 2008. The Changing Global Access to Diabetes Care strategy is aimed at improving affordability, availability, accessibility and quality of diabetes care for four specific population groups that represent the most vulnerable groups with the lowest access to diabetes care:
- People living in the least developed countries (LDCs)
- People living at the ‘base of the pyramid’ in emerging economies
- Migrant populations in the developed world
- Children worldwide.
For each population group, Novo Nordisk has targeted actions and programmes aimed at addressing the specific needs of this group.
Novo Nordisk’s strategy takes inspiration from the priorities voiced by the United Nations through the Millennium Development Goals and draft guidelines on the right to health, the investor-led PharmaFutures project emphasising the importance of emerging growth markets, IDF’s commitment to children through the Youth Charter, and the World Health Organisation’s focus on more affordable pricing, greater transparency and health systems capacity.
Building on core capabilities, and working through partnerships with stakeholders, the actions aim to create interventions and solutions that can be scaled up and consolidated in the future to improve health outcomes for people with diabetes in disadvantaged population groups.
Access to health within haemophilia care
Novo Nordisk also recognises that there is a significant need to improve haemophilia treatment and infrastructure in developing countries. In 2005, the company therefore set up the Novo Nordisk Haemophilia Foundation (NNHF) as a commitment to the company’s social responsibility for haemophilia care.
Health Policy Committee
The work in this field is governed by the Health Policy Committee, which is chaired by Kåre Schultz, executive vice president and chief operating officer.
This page has been reviewed by PricewaterhouseCoopers as part of its assurance of Novo Nordisk’s non-financial reporting. Please refer to Audit and assurance for a full description of the conclusions and the nature of assurance offered.
