Iloilo city: A humanitarian non-profit organization has identified Iloilo City as one of the pilot areas for the Changing Diabetes in Children (CDiC) Project, formalized through a ceremonial signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Tuesday. The parties to the MOU included Humanity and Inclusion (HI), Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals (Philippines) Inc. (NN), Roche (Philippines) Inc., and the Iloilo city government.
According to Philippines News Agency, the ceremonial signing was led by Iloilo City Mayor Raisa Tre±as, CDiC project manager Kenneth Samaco, and City Health Office Assistant Department Head Jennifer Castro. The project is also piloted in Iloilo province, Valenzuela City, and the Davao Region. The project that will last for three years commenced upon the signing of the MOU, targeting around 1,000 children with Type 1 diabetes in the city and province of Iloilo.
A copy of the signed document obtained on Wednesday showed that the project intends to establish and/or strengthen the accessibility to an inclusive health system and information on Non-Communicable Diseases for Children ages 0 to Young People 25 years old with Type 1 Diabetes, by equipping grassroots health care service providers with necessary knowledge, skills, and tools to provide inclusive health and child-friendly services.
Under the MOU, NN Philippines will provide the insulins and needles; Roche is responsible for the glucometers, strips, lancets, and other devices; and HI will handle inclusive health and child-friendly information, education, and communication materials, support for the conduct of Type 1 diabetes-related activities, and develop an offline digital registry and reporting system for Type 1 Diabetes, among others.
The city government will lead the creation of the CDiC technical working group, identify new Type 1 Diabetes patients, organize and integrate Type 1 Diabetes into the existing healthcare provider network; and ensure its sustainability with the integration of Type 1 Diabetes services in the non-communicable disease program, among others.
Type 1 diabetes is usually hereditary, while Type 2 is commonly known as acquired or lifestyle-related. "Globally, it is estimated that five to 10 percent among diabetes is Type 1," Samaco said in a follow-up interview. "We aim to gather enough evidence so we can present it to DOH (Department of Health) for it to eventually become a regular program," he added.
