Changing Diabetes® in Children: Novo Nordisk’s public-private partnership delivering diabetes care to children in low- and middle-income countries

Changing Diabetes® in Children (CDiC) is a public-private partnership launched in 2009 by the Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk. CDiC ensures care and life-saving medicine for children and youth with type 1 diabetes (T1D) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The ambition of CDiC is that no child should die from diabetes.

CDiC’s global partners are Novo Nordisk, the Swiss healthcare company Roche, the World Diabetes Foundation (WDF), and the International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes (ISPAD). At the national level, local partners work in tandem with national health systems to implement the program.

CDiC's approach encompasses four core components: providing medicines and medical supplies, training of healthcare staff, establishing or refurbishing clinics, and patient education. By the end of 2022, CDiC has reached over 42,000 children in 26 LMICs in Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. In 2020, Novo Nordisk’s Executive Management announced a new goal of reaching 100,000 children and youth living with T1D by 2030. This puts the partnership at the crossroads of scalability, sustainability, and innovation. This case study presents an insight into CDiC's partnership model, evolution, and its accomplishments.