Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, November 27, 2024
Biocon Biologics Limited, a fully integrated global biosimilars company, is proud to share the progress of the ongoing ‘Embedding Specialist Nurses in Diabetes Care’ project undertaken in collaboration with Diabetes Africa and St Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College in Ethiopia. The first phase of this multi-year project, supported by Biocon Biologics, has harnessed the expertise of key stakeholders in Ethiopia’s diabetes ecosystem to develop a replicable model of upskilling nurses to become diabetes specialists and enhance diabetes care nationwide.
This update is particularly timely, as November marks Diabetes Awareness Month, a global campaign to highlight the diabetes epidemic and the urgent need for coordinated action. As a leading global insulins player, Biocon Biologics is deeply committed to raising awareness about the challenges posed by diabetes and the importance of strengthening healthcare systems to meet these challenges.
Susheel Umesh, Chief Commercial Officer – Emerging Markets, Biocon Biologics, said, “At Biocon Biologics, we are proud to support Diabetes Africa’s initiative to address the shortage of trained healthcare professionals to combat diabetes in Ethiopia. The project to train diabetes specialist nurses is leveraging the combined expertise of diverse stakeholders, including Ethiopia’s Federal Ministry of Health, to create a robust and sustainable ecosystem for diabetes care. By focusing on upskilling nurses, the initiative aims to integrate diabetes prevention and management into primary healthcare and establish a replicable model for hospitals across Ethiopia. Our support reflects Biocon Biologics’ unwavering commitment to improve access to high-quality diabetes care and tackle Ethiopia’s growing diabetes challenges.”
With a prevalence of 2–3%, Ethiopia ranks among the top four countries with the highest number of adult diabetics in the sub-Saharan Africa region. Diabetes contributes to nearly 2% of all deaths in the country*. The shortage of qualified healthcare professionals, coupled with the rising prevalence of diabetes, creates a critical health challenge in Ethiopia.
A Path to Transformative Solutions
To ensure the sustainability of the ‘Embedding Specialist Nurses in Diabetes Care Program’, Biocon Biologics has made a multi-year commitment to support Diabetes Africa and St Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College. Under this program, Diabetes Africa has engaged with a diverse range of stakeholders, including representatives from healthcare facilities, professional associations involved in diabetes care, NGOs involved in the health sector, and officials from Ethiopia’s Federal Ministry of Health.
This collaborative, multi-faceted approach has provided insights into what the curriculum for diabetes specialist nurses should include and has strengthened the case for an advanced diabetes specialized degree program that is designed to address stakeholder needs while significantly enhancing diabetes care across Ethiopia.
Dr Bernadette Adeyileka-Tracz, Executive Director, Diabetes Africa, said: “Diabetes is a global emergency. According to WHO, 800 million adults are affected worldwide, with 90% of untreated cases occurring in low- and middle-income countries. We are proud of our partnership with Biocon Biologics and St Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College, which has been at the forefront of healthcare innovation in Ethiopia. Like many countries across the African continent, Ethiopia’s healthcare workforce is predominantly made up of nurses who lead healthcare delivery. St Paul’s experience as a pioneer in this space gives us the confidence that diabetes specialist nurses could be gamechangers. This project is about delivering systemic, sustainable change to address the growing health crisis.”
Dr Sisay S. Betizazu, Provost, St Paul’s Hospital Millenium Medical College, said: “The ultimate goal of this program, supported by Biocon Biologics, is to improve diabetes care through specialized nursing. By training nurses, expanding their role, and creating an environment where they can work exclusively with people living with diabetes, we can transform our care delivery. While we face challenges in service organization, training, infrastructure, and quality assurance, this project’s comprehensive approach offers a solution: by establishing a structured pathway for nurses to become diabetes specialists, we will simultaneously strengthen these core aspects of our healthcare system. With the high volume of patients at our facility, many could be effectively managed by well-trained nurses at the primary care level. This would allow us to expand our tertiary services provided by residents and endocrinologists.”
Improving Diabetes Care in LMICs
Diabetes continues to pose a significant global health challenge, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where it is often described as a disease of ‘halves’: half diagnosed, half treated, half compliant. The WHO has highlighted a significant gap in healthcare professionals adequately trained in diabetes prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.
Biocon Biologics’ approach of integrating diabetes prevention and management into primary healthcare to improve treatment outcomes aligns with the WHO’s Global Diabetes Compact.
Support for this initiative in Ethiopia is part of the Company’s broader mission to nurture robust healthcare ecosystems in LMICs. In line with this commitment, Biocon Biologics has recently published a peer-reviewed article in the Generics and Biosimilars Initiative (GaBI) Journal outlining policy recommendations for increasing the adoption of quality-assured biosimilars in LMICs. It is also working to improve access to biosimilar insulins in the Philippines and affordable cancer care in Nigeria and Tanzania.
As a company driven by the vision of unlocking universal access to high-quality insulins, Biocon Biologics aspires to provide biosimilar insulins to ‘one in five’ insulin-dependent people with diabetes globally. Having supplied over 7.3 billion doses of insulin since 2004, Biocon Biologics is ranked among the Top 5 global insulins players, offering a comprehensive portfolio of regular, long-acting, and rapid-acting insulins. The Company aspires to reduce inequity in healthcare by fostering meaningful relationships with healthcare professionals, policymakers, and local organizations to create sustainable solutions tailored to unique regional challenges.
*Source: Amsalu, H., Hailu, M., Asefa, A. et al. The effect of lifestyle factors on chronic complications of diabetes at public health hospitals in Southwest Ethiopia. Sci Rep 14, 18428 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-69527-9
About Diabetes Africa:
Diabetes Africa helps healthcare professionals, entrepreneurs and decision-makers reach more people and make a greater impact fighting diabetes in Africa, in the Caribbean, and around the world. Our staff, members, and partners share the same vision: to make diabetes and related diseases in Africa, in the Caribbean, and in people of African heritage globally, a thing on the past. We connect people and organizations around four topics: access to medicine, treatment, and information; capacity-building; research and policy. Website: diabetesafrica.org
About St Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College
St Paul’s Hospital Millenium Medical College is a public tertiary hospital and higher education institution in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, delivering medical services to over 600,000 patients annually and providing higher education in 73 academic programs in three schools — School of Medicine, Nursing, and Public Health — to healthcare professionals from all over the country. It is dedicated to delivering top-quality healthcare, post-graduate education and high-level evidence generating research.
About Biocon Biologics Limited:
Biocon Biologics Ltd. (BBL), a subsidiary of Biocon Limited, is a unique, fully integrated, global biosimilars company committed to transforming healthcare and transforming lives. It is capitalizing on its ‘lab to market’ capabilities to serve millions of patients across 120+ countries by enabling affordable access to high quality biosimilars. The Company is leveraging cutting-edge science, innovative tech platforms, global scale manufacturing capabilities and world-class quality systems to lower costs of biological therapeutics while improving healthcare outcomes. Biocon Biologics has commercialized eight biosimilars in key Emerging Markets and Advanced Markets like U.S., Europe, Australia, Canada, and Japan. It has a pipeline of 20 biosimilar assets across diabetology, oncology, immunology, ophthalmology, and other non-communicable diseases. The Company has many ‘firsts’ to its credit in the biosimilars industry. As part of its environmental, social and governance (ESG) commitment, it is advancing the health of patients, people, and the planet to achieve key UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Website: www.bioconbiologics.com; Follow us on X (formerly Twitter): @BioconBiologics and LinkedIn: Biocon Biologics for company updates.
Biocon Limited, publicly listed in 2004, (BSE code: 532523, NSE Id: BIOCON, ISIN Id: INE376G01013) is an innovation-led global biopharmaceuticals company committed to enhance affordable access to complex therapies for chronic conditions like diabetes, cancer and autoimmune. It has developed and commercialized novel biologics, biosimilars, and complex small molecule APIs in India and several key global markets as well as Generic Formulations in the US, Europe & key emerging markets. It also has a pipeline of promising novel assets in immunotherapy under development. Website: www.biocon.com; Follow-us on X (formerly Twitter): @bioconlimited for company updates.
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