Indian Diabetes Research Society (RSSDI) signs MoU with AstraZeneca’s To Empower 1 crore Indian Diabetic patients by 2023

AstraZeneca India (AstraZeneca Pharma India Limited), a leading science-led biopharmaceutical company today signed a Memorandum of Understanding with India's Diabetes Research Society (RSSDI). In order to avoid complications resulting from the uncontrolled occurrence of the disease, this MoU aims to digitise and drive correct understanding of diabetes among individuals.

With about 6,000 members including doctors, diabetologists, endocrinologists, as well as paramedical staff, RSSDI is the largest association of diabetes health care practitioners and researchers in Asia. As well as continuing diabetes education programmes in India, the organisation has been instrumental in comprehensive research on diabetes. As a key facet of this dual association, AstraZeneca unveiled a campaign-'Beyond Sugar', a three-year patient awareness program developed to benefit over 1 Crore people living with Diabetes across the country. This initiative will empower patients/caregivers to have conversations around Diabetes and make informed decisions about the management of the disease.

The International Diabetes Foundation Atlas on Diabetes shows that 1 in 11 people have diabetes in South Asia and that by 2030, India will have around 11.5 patients with Crore diabetes. A recent study indicated that 44 percent of patients hospitalised for Heart Failure (HF) had type 2 diabetes, suggesting a clear association between diabetes and HF, whereas 10 to 15 percent of the general population has diabetes. HF is a major health problem in India with post-admission mortality of 20 percent-30 percent. Chronic kidney diseases is associated with significant patient death and an increased risk of heart failure. Therefore, it is critical that Diabetes be controlled to decrease the incidence of HF and CKD in India.  

Dr.Anil Kukreja, Vice President - Medical Affairs & Regulatory, AstraZeneca India, said, "AstraZeneca has always been at the forefront of enabling patient-centric solutions for the management of non-communicable diseases. Despite currently available therapies, the awareness levels among the public is relatively low, resulting in uncontrolled Diabetes and additional complications of the heart and kidneys. The partnership between AstraZeneca and RSSDI will go a long way in supporting patient-centric digital awareness campaign and programs to raise awareness about Diabetes and its complications so that they can act early to manage or even prevent the complications".

Dr.Banshi Saboo, President- RSSDI and Organising Chairman 2020, said, "This partnership between RSSDI and AstraZeneca will result in increased awareness levels about Diabetes and its complications. Our vision is to touch 1 Crore lives in India over the next three years through this Digital patient-centric approach. In the COVID era, this digitally-powered initiative will also empower patients/caregivers to have better conversations with their doctors about the disease and make informed decisions in the management of Diabetes. All this will culminate towards shifting from the glucose centric management approach towards a holistic and an early Cardio-Renal focused management of type 2 diabetes. "

Dr. Sanjay Agarwal, Secretary- RSSDI 2020, said, "Being the largest organisation of Diabetes doctors and researchers in Asia, RSSDI is always focused at elevating the patient outcomes in Diabetes with constant research and innovative solutions. Beyond Sugar is one such patient-centric initiative which will play a vital role along with our RSSDI state chapters to raise the awareness by leveraging social media and digital platforms. With the support of AstraZeneca, we aim to reach out to the patients, community and HCP to increase awareness about Diabetes and help patients initiate conversations about the prevention of complications in Diabetes."

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