Communities Uniting to Meet America’s Diabetes Challenge 

 

 

 

Patricia M. Doykos
Director
Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation

November 14, 2011 -- As we mark American Diabetes Month in the U.S., over 8% of adults are living with the disease – primarily type 2 diabetes. According to the CDC, by 2050 over 30% could be living with diabetes if current trends continue. The cost of diabetes, estimated at $174 billion in 2007, is projected to triple by 2034, and then there’s the cost in human suffering experienced by individuals, families and communities – particularly racial and ethnic minorities, the elderly and the poor. 

These sobering numbers clearly indicate that diabetes is now not only a national epidemic, but one that, despite prevention efforts, is accelerating from year to year.  Sadly, this situation reminds me of how HIV/AIDS statistics in the developing world climbed sharply in the 1990s and fueled the sense of urgency that led to an unprecedented stepped up and coordinated global response that spanned private and public sectors. As with HIV/AIDS, I believe we can turn the tide of diabetes, but we must not lose any more time -- or propagate a fragmented response -- or continue doing only what we have been doing the way we have been doing it so far.