The Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) Community Fund is investing in a future where people living with type 1 diabetes can lead healthy and fulfilling lives.
Powered by Panorama Global with seed funding from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, the T1D Community Fund supports community-based organizations around the world that serve individuals and families impacted by type 1 diabetes.
In 2023, The T1D Community Fund awarded two-year grants totaling $961,000 to 16 community-based organizations working across 14 countries in Africa, Latin America, and Asia.
Community-based organizations provide vital services and have unique insights into the challenges of existing health systems and barriers faced by people with type 1 diabetes. Yet, their perspectives are often not included in national or global type 1 diabetes planning.
We are thrilled to support organizations working on the frontlines to close gaps in essential health services and related care for people with type 1 diabetes. The T1D Community Fund grant recipients provide life-saving health services and programs for people living with type 1 diabetes and their families through four types of support:
The Ethiopian Diabetes Association was established in 1976 to provide a platform for people living with diabetes to provide information and prevent treatment and related problems. The association was founded by the Ethiopian Medical Association, health care professionals, and people living with diabetes.
Ark Development Organization (ADO) is a health education, governance, and environmentally focused organization committed to improving the lives of deprived women, children and the disabled through capacity building, evidence-based advocacy, and participatory innovative programs. The organization’s diabetes support program minimizes health crises through early detection of type 1 and other diabetes and early uptake of treatment through community education, screening, linkage to treatment services, and case monitoring.
Through its Health and Nutrition program, Volta Educational Renaissance Foundation (VEReF) focuses its type 1 diabetes efforts on patients, caregivers, and community education in addition to screening and awareness raising. By improving patient outcomes, VEReF’s services support overall individual and family well-being.
La Maison Bleue du Diabète is at the forefront of diabetes care for children, adolescents, young adults, and adults with type 1 diabetes living in the Republic of Congo. The association provides free medical consultations and insulin delivery to patients through two medical centers in Brazzaville and Pointe Noire. In addition, the association works to support the diabetes community in Congo through education, healthcare capacity building, and advocacy.
Pillar of Health’s mission is to have every child/youth living with type 1 diabetes in Rwanda have health insurance. They help raise funds to provide free health insurance to those who cannot afford it and connect them with local solutions to pay for themselves. They also work with the Government of Rwanda to provide insulin and other supplies to district hospitals.
Sweet Life Diabetes Community empowers people with diabetes on their journey to a healthy, happy life by providing answers to their diabetes questions and a community to support and share their experiences. Sweet Life serves people living with type 1 diabetes in South Africa as the country’s largest online diabetes community.
Innovations for Development (I4DEV) promotes and defends the health rights of current and future generations of Ugandans using innovative solutions, engaging communities, and delivering quality services while focusing on the most marginalized. Through this lens, the organization responds to the needs of people with type 1 diabetes through community building, health system strengthening, and advocacy.
Midlands Diabetes Interest Group raises awareness among people with diabetes through education and advising local communities. They offer comprehensive care of complex cases of diabetes and preventive management for patients with diabetes, and attention to pre-diabetic conditions in the Midlands province.
Founded by parents of children with type 1 diabetes, CUI.D.AR’s mission is to improve the quality of life of people with diabetes. They work to minimize the impact of diabetes on the lives of children, young people, and adults through prevention, social awareness raising, defense of rights and education. CUI.D.AR's work spans research, education, advocacy, awareness campaigns, incidence and design of public policies, and capacity building. It is the largest community of people living with diabetes in Argentina, and specifically the most representative in type 1 diabetes.
The Fundación Diabetes Juvenil del Ecuador’s mission is to improve the quality of life for people with type 1 diabetes in Ecuador. They provide nutrition education, counseling, and peer support to people with type 1 diabetes, parents, or caregivers, and in schools.
Guerreros Azules advocates for diabetes care for children with type 1 diabetes in Venezuela. Their programs promote health services, education, recreational activities, and supplies and resources that support, treat, and save the lives of children in vulnerable conditions.
Diabetes Palestine (DP) supports people living with diabetes in cooperation and coordination with care providers. Leveraging community-based approaches, DP provides comprehensive diabetes care with a focus on self-management and education to communities in West Bank and Gaza.
Diabetic Children Foundation improves the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and their families. The foundation focuses on community awareness and stigma reduction, education, and access to technology for type 1 diabetes care and treatment.
Nityaasha Foundation supports children with type 1 diabetes from less privileged backgrounds by providing free medical aid (insulin and glucose strips) and pathology tests. At health centers and periodic home visits, Nityaasha staff closely monitor and educate families on proper insulin storage, insulin injection technique, injection sites, and daily blood glucose tests, and records the result. The team also provides information on type 1 diabetes day-to-day management to lead a normal quality of life.
Samatvam: Science and Research for Human Welfare Trust is a group of institutions that treats and manages diabetes and other endocrine and metabolic disorders. The goal is to provide health care of the highest possible quality to the highest possible quantity— to foster humane, honest, and holistic health care.
In 2004, Diabetes Society of Maldives (DSM) established a free clinic that provides diabetes services—including type 1 diabetes education, complication screening, and care at no cost to patients. DSM also acts as a center of information on diabetes in the Maldives by educating the community through screening programs, presentations, and health education.
This is the second in a series spotlighting grantee partners of The T1D Community Fund. We hope their experiences and insights will inform global health systems and improve access to care for people with type 1 diabetes.
